Sonic the Hedgehog: Attorney of Law
by thedraconicwerewolf
Summary: Sonic is a defense attorney with a law degree fresh out of high school thanks to his advanced studies in the ways of the judicial system. He's now able to defend others from various allegations. Will his training be enough to help him prove his clients' innocence? And what will happen when a ghost of his past that made him walk the path of law comes around once again?
1. Seaside Harbor Murder Pt 1

Hello everybody! Here's a brand spanking new sonic fanfiction for you all to read. This is a result of having a bunch of random ideas flowing through my head and manifesting themselves in my brain. Then again, all of my stories under my name here started out as just random ideas before becoming what they are right now.

For those of you who have played a certain DS game, you might know where I got this idea from while you read it. For those of you who don't, read the note at the end of the story so you will know what I based this on.

Anyway, I decided to try something new here. Being that this is a mystery story, a first for me here, I will try to have you all involved into it. For instance, people would be saying key things at points. These sections will be marked at their beginning and end by bolded, italicized, and underlined words. You will also end up having an "inventory" filled with things that you will collect during the story. In future chapters, a recap of what you have will be posted up here, but there won't be any in this one since it's the beginning.

Again, this is a first for me, and I hope that I did a good enough job to catch your attention in the first chapter. I'm warning you, this chapter just might do that with it's epic awesomeness!

Hope that you will all enjoy this chapter and new story idea I came up with. Please leave a review telling me how I did in all the things I mentioned two paragraphs ago. Until the next update everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Seaside Harbor Murder Pt. 1<br>**

"This is crazy," a young man sighed out as he sat on a worn cushioned bench. He was currently inside a room that was furnished as a waiting room of sorts. The walls were painted a generically dull white with more benches lining along the wall and an indoor potted plant sitting ornately in the corner next to a small table. The air in the place held that of great prestige and instilled a sense of awe and respect into those who resided in it. "I never thought I'd be starting out my career right off the bat like this. I only just got accepted into this job two days ago; you'd think they'd wait a bit before sending a rookie into his first big job."

"A defense attorney's life is never easy, Sonic," another voice that sounded older spoke up in a reassuring tone. "You'll never know when you might get called upon to defend someone in their time of need. I suppose you could say it's like a war except that this battle is more civil and resolved in a courtroom of prestigious justice."

"If that speech of yours was meant to help me, then you did a very bad job at it," Sonic replied as his lips twitched into a frown. He was a hedgehog with blue fur and quills that served as his spiked up hair that was slicked back a bit. His stomach held some peach colored fur that was the same as his muzzle, his stunningly green eyes looking over at the contents of a manila folder in his hands. "Couldn't you have said something more encouraging and less along the lines of war and all that, Dr. Robotnik?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think there's another analogy that'd best fit the situation," Dr. Robotnik responded with a sort of humorous apologetic tone in his words. He was a middle-aged man with a portly figure and a balding head that held remnants of what was surely once a bunch of brilliant brown hair. His round spectacles rested lightly against his slightly pointed nose as the moustache underneath it wiggled a bit with a small snort. And his suit that consisted of freshly pressed black pants and white dress shirt underneath a red overcoat clearly reflected the kind of person he was. "I just thought that a bit of a play on words would help calm your nerves. You do seem more nervous than usual."

"No offense, but I don't really think this qualifies as one of those times to be cracking jokes sir," the cobalt hedgehog responded with another sigh as his shoulders slumped a bit. The folder he had been browsing through listlessly fell to his lap. "I'm a defense attorney who has only gotten his Attorney's Badge less than a month ago and hired by you two days ago. I'm already starting out my career with figurative guns blazing by having to defend a client who's been accused of murder, one of the most severe charges there is in the judicial system. I don't think anybody would want to trust their hope for freedom on a newbie like me."

"I guess that there's a first for everything, Sonic," a third voice chirped in, this one belonging to someone young. "I don't think I've heard of a twelve-year-old like myself being accused of murder. Is it even possible to go about persecuting someone my age of such a horrible crime? The prosecution would either have some very convincing evidence or paint me out as some kind of conniving little devil for it to work. And before any of you say anything, I didn't kill anybody!"

"Don't worry, Tails; we've kind of already established that as a basis of defending you against this claim," the portly man responded confidently as he gave a friendly smile to the third person, a small orange-yellow fox with a white furred chest. And as if to set him off from any of the others around him, he had two bushy tails that had white on their tips as if they were snow-covered peaks. It was also clear that he was nervous about the whole situation his twiddling fingers and pacing feet were not any indication of it. "As to your question, the law has seen quite a morphing over the past few years. Anybody accused of murder, regardless of age, must go through the proper court proceedings."

"I think they taught us in law school that murder was murder regardless of the situation," Sonic added with a shrug of his shoulders before securing the folder in his hands and getting up. "This shows how naïve I was when I just believed them without question. I guess this is just one of those things that needs to happen to either you or one of your friends before you start to wonder about it."

"But why doesn't anybody believe me when I say that I never murdered the man?" Tails whimpered with slumped shoulders, his eyes downcast and interested at his red and white sneakers. "I only happened to be there when the incident took place. All I did was go and see what was going on before going to call the police, and this is the thanks I get for trying to be a Good Samaritan."

"I must admit, I cannot see you murdering the man, accidentally or otherwise, in such a unique and brazen way," Dr. Robotnik responded with a shake of his head as he took the folder out of the hedgehog's hands and quickly took what looked like a photo out of it. "It seems too messy for anybody much less yourself. Unfortunately, evidence is everything when fighting for justice and it all seems to point to you right now."

The photo that the man was looking at showed anything but a pleasant scene. Then again, it was the picture that clearly captured the crime scene at the time the police got there, so that was clearly to be expected. It showed a dark haired man being pinned and crushed from the waist down by a humongous cargo container, his arms out in front of him and head turned to the side against the concrete and a red object of sorts next to him. Amazingly enough, there was hardly any clear signs of blood seeping from under the wreckage, but that was probably for the best as it seemed to lessen the overall gruesomeness of the scene.

"At least the autopsy report goes along with your story," the blue hedgehog responded as he shuffled through the folder again and pulled out a piece of paper that held a colored photo on the front. "The guy died due to blood loss from the accident, but he was still alive for a few minutes before his body finally gave out. It's too bad that there isn't anything else working for us here. That doesn't mean that I don't believe you, though. You're my best buddy first and foremost, and I promise to get you out of this."

"Excuse me, sirs," a man's deep voice suddenly cut in to their conversation in an official sounding voice. "The trial will begin shortly. I suggest that you finish up whatever business you need to take care of."

"Thank you bailiff," the older man thanked the other as the man in a blue officer suit nodded his head before going back to wherever it was he came from. "Well, it sounds like this is my cue to leave. I wish you good luck with your first trial, Sonic."

"Wha...?_!_ But I thought that you were going in with me to help me in case I flub it up or something!" the young attorney stuttered as he nearly dropped his folder. He managed to grab a tighter hold of it, but a small slip of paper inside a clear plastic bag managed to fall out. "You can't just let me fight this battle by myself."

"Unfortunately, I don't have much choice in the matter," Dr. Robotnik stated as he bent down and picked up the fallen object. "Don't you remember that I have a case myself taking place in the next courtroom? It starts thirty minutes from now."

"O-oh, I forgot about that."

"Hey, from what I heard when I did a background check on you, you were quite the student in your high school's law program. You may have not been at the top of your class, but you had both the skill and confidence that I always look for. So when you enter those courtroom doors, I want you to leave your uncertainty behind and look confident, okay?"

"Y-yes sir!" Sonic stuttered in an attempt to make himself sound as confident as he usually was, but it was clear he was still nervous about the whole thing. Instead, he settled on taking the small bag and looking at it once more before putting it back into the folder. The front had a label that said "Victim's Note" on it, and the words on it said "Blue Ocean" in blood that had since dried into a rust-like color and caked over the wrinkled paper.

"Good, then I'll see you after our respective trials are over," the doctor replied with a comforting smile as he began to make his way to his designated courtroom. "Hopefully, your client won't be on death row when you're done."

"You could at least say something more encouraging than that, you know?" both Sonic and Tails exclaimed to the quickly retreating form of the man before he turned the corner and was out of their sights.

A few minutes later, the blue hedgehog was inside the courtroom where the trial for his best friend was being held. He was standing on the right side of the room where a podium that doubled up as a table. On it was his folder now empty with the contents from it spread out neatly for easy access when he needed it. Tails had been escorted to a separate podium by the bailiff where he now sat in waiting for the results of his fate.

On the opposite end of Sonic was the same table structure with another person standing behind it. He was a young green crocodile dressed in brown leather sleeveless vest with a black headset resting against the back of his neck. He had a sort of sure yet childish aura about him, his cocky half smile partially supplying said aura. Upon closer inspection, the badge signifying his role as a prosecutor was set onto one of the ear pieces and clearly visible from its position. Apparently, he took his headphones to all his trials.

Behind both of these tables was a seating section with an audience sitting and watching the case unfold before them. It was as if they were the witness themselves to the proceedings of the case. At the center of the room was a small wooden podium that was currently devoid of people. In various points of the room were unmanned cameras set at specific angles that were most likely going to record the events that were soon to take place.

"Court is now in session," a deep booming voice suddenly announced as the sound of something relatively heavy and hallow echoed throughout the room. When the hedgehog turned his head towards the source of the sound, he saw a man with graying hair donned in black robes and a wooden gavel in hand sitting behind a tall podium. It was clear that he was the judge presiding over the case. "The trial will now begin. Will the parties representing this case please make themselves known?"

"Y-yes, Your Honor," Sonic nervously answered before clearing his throat. "I'm Sonic Hedgehog; I-I'll be representing the defense, Mr. Miles Prower."

"Vector Crocodile, working on behalf of the state," the crocodile confidently replied in a somewhat deep voice as he fiddled with his headset.

"And I would suppose that both parties are prepared to present their arguments to the court?" the Judge asked as he looked at both attorneys.

"The prosecution is ready," Vector answered.

"Uh, the defense…is ready!" the hedgehog said with a nervous smile, mentally cursing himself for sounding so nervous.

"You don't sound too sure of yourself, Mr. Sonic," the old man observed with a frown. "Nevertheless, let us begin with today's proceedings. The defendant, Mr. Miles Prower, is accused of murdering a thirty-year-old man by the name of Jak O'Altraids, a man who worked at the Mobius Harbor as a cargo loader and inspector."

"Yes, it's quite sad in the way his death was carried out," the prosecutor said with a small sense of sadness in his voice before it disappeared and replaced with his normal tone. He then picked up a photo from his podium before saying, "I have a photo of the crime scene itself, but I suspect that it'll be easier if I just explained it.

"Mr. O'Altraids was a man who worked a lot of odd jobs here and there," he began to explain. "It wasn't because he couldn't hold down a steady job; people who knew him say that he always preferred to work these odd jobs as if it were one of his habits. In this case, however, he decided to try his hand at a concrete job and accepted a position as a cargo loader and inspector at the Mobius Harbor that mainly worked the graveyard shift."

"That sure does sound like a job nobody would be too eager to accept," the Judge noted with a nod of his head as he took a careful look at the Crime Scene Photo that had appeared on a white screen courtesy of an image projector. "I know it's already explained in Mr. O'Altraids's Autopsy Report, but do you think you could elaborate a bit on just how the victim was killed, Mr. Vector? I believe an explanation might alleviate whatever confusion there might be."

"Well, as seen in this photo, the victim was killed by a cargo container that fell and crushed the bottom half of his body. He was underneath it when the container was hanging overhead on a crane that was moving from the dock towards one of the ships. Somehow, the mechanism that held onto the cargo became loose, and this was the last thing the victim noticed before trying to dodge the heavy object and falling painfully short from freedom. I'm sure you all know what happened next courtesy of this photograph."

"I see. So that was how our victim met his sad end. And just how is it that the defendant was named as the murderer for this case? I believe that he's only twelve-years-old and would already be so devious. How could someone of his age possibly execute such a messy and overall complicated plan? It seems quite inconceivable."

"I admit that such a claim is highly unusual. However, the evidence currently at hand conveniently points at his direction. And to cement the notion that he is in fact the true culprit, I would like for the defendant himself to testify before us," Vector added as he shot a stoic glance towards Tails. "Would that be alright with Your Honor? After all, the boy is the most qualified person in this entire courtroom to tell you what happened at that exact moment. I've no guarantees that what he says will be the truth, but I'm sure it'll be enough to better set the stage and prove that he is indeed the true culprit."

"Hmm...," the Judge thought for a moment as he shut his eyes a bit in contemplation. He soon opened them again and looked at Sonic who was quiet for the entire time. "This does sound like the only course of action that we can take as of now. Mr. Sonic, do you have any objections with your client testifying?"

"Um, I suppose not?" Sonic responded with a sheepish smile, unsure of how to really answer the question as he nervously scratched behind one of his ears. He kind of figured that Tails was going to be called up at some point, but he was not betting on him being called right off the start of the trial.

"You don't seem to be very confident with your answer," the old man pointed out with a concerned eyebrow raised at the hedgehog. "I understand that this case marks the start of your career, but that's no excuse for you to allow this to affect your overall performance. Rookie or not, it's your responsibility that you guide this case down the correct path and away from any falsehoods. I don't believe I need to remind you that your conduct will directly affect the fate of your client. Now let me ask you once more; do you have any problems with the prosecution's request to call the defendant to the stand?"

"N-no, Your Honor," the defense attorney answered again, this time trying to put more confidence in his answer despite accidentally letting a small stutter escape. "The defense has no objections with the calling of Mr. Prower to the stand."

"You still don't seem very confident," Vector chided with a cheeky smile while shaking his head. "Oh well, I suppose that means I'll have an easy time getting my points across in this case. Anyway, since we now have the defense's permission, I suggest we move on to hearing what the defendant has to say for himself."

"I agree; the defendant will now take the stand!" the Judge ordered with a bang of his gavel in a way to officiate his command.

Within a couple of seconds, Tails was walking from his position next to a police officer keeping surveillance on him and towards the witness stand at the center of the room. He had a worried look on his face, but the gaze he shot at Sonic as he walked by showed that he was confident in his abilities. Said hedgehog noticed the look and immediately received a small boost of confidence from it.

"Mr. Prower, I have but one question that I'd like you to answer to the courts," Vector sternly replied once the fox had made it to the podium, giving him no time to become properly situated with his new position. It was clear that he was eager to uncover the answers that would benefit his position in this case. This also managed to cut away at the confidence boost tails had just given him. "Were you in or anywhere near Mobius Harbor on the night that the victim was killed?"

"I was at the harbor that night," the young kit answered nervously but without hesitation. "I normally don't have any business with that part of town, but I had received a phone call earlier in the afternoon. It was from someone I didn't know, but they said that they knew something concerning one of my friends. He wanted me to meet him at the harbor later that evening. It was a little bit after I arrived that the incident took place."

"A phone call, huh?" the crocodile repeated with a scoff. "You do know how hard that is to believe, right? It seems so strange that somebody just decided to call you over to the harbor on the night that Mr. O'Altraids was murdered. If anything, it seems as though you're trying to cover your tracks with falsifications."

"Y-You can't just say that without any evidence, Prosecutor Vector!" Sonic feebly objected in an attempt to save his little brother's good name. It was not even half an hour into the proceedings and he was already having a hard time. "You may have evidence that shows my client to be a murderer, but where's your proof that he's lying now?"

"Oh, you really do have a lot to learn if you plan on playing in the big leagues. You better start listening harder to what people say. I only said that it seemed like he was lying; I never proclaimed outright that he was doing so. I'm sure that even someone with your level of experience can differentiate between the two.

"However, I believe I can throw the same question back at you," the prosecutor added as he placed his headset over his ears in an act of cockiness. "If you're so sure that what I said is wrong, then where's your proof that your client is telling the truth? I would suppose that you have some considering how quick you were to jump the gun there."

Instead of answering, the cobalt hedgehog simply let out a growl as he attempted and failed at staring down the crocodile.

"I figured that to be the case. Another thing you should learn is to be careful with what you say. You never know when it might come back to bite you. Consider yourself lucky that this doesn't serve to damn you on your position here."

"Well, it sounds as though the defense's objection was rather short-lived," the Judge simply replied. "I can't say, though, that they even petitioned for a good objection in the first place. Regardless, I feel that the witness's previous statement leaves some room for scrutiny considering that this is murder we're dealing with. Will the witness please testify to the court in detail about what happened that day?"

"Yes, Your Honor," the young fox said with a small sigh as he prepared himself for the explanation as to why he went to the harbor.

_Oh boy, looks like things are going to get interesting,_ Sonic thought as he gave off a nervous grin while mentally preparing himself to listening in on the first testimony of his career. _I know Tails wouldn't lie about something like this, so he must've gotten a phone call telling him to go to the harbor. If only he didn't follow those directions, then maybe he wouldn't be in this mess. Oh well, I guess all I can do is ask him what that call was about. That's the only thing I see that doesn't make any sense._

**_The Night of the Incident_**

I had arrived at the Mobius Harbor a little before nine. I was directed there by somebody who called me earlier that afternoon. I don't know who the person was, but he claimed to be working for the police and had information concerning one of my friends. It was probably only a couple minutes since I arrived before I heard a loud crash. Wondering what was going on, I ran over to the source of the sound and saw that the victim was crushed under a large cargo container. When I approached him, I saw that he was barely still alive. When I tried to leave to get help, he stopped me for a moment by grabbing at my leg. He soon let go of me, and I went into the main office to call for help.

**_End Testimony_**

"Well, that sure sounds like an informative piece of testimony," the Judge responded once Tails was done recounting what he remembered about that night. It was clear that he was amazed at the conciseness that was presented by a mere twelve-year-old boy. "You sound quite proper and professional for someone of your age. But just for future reference, Mr. Prower; a police officer would either come to you directly or ask you to go to the Police department if they wanted to have a private discussion with you. They would never ask to meet with you directly out of the blue at some random area.

"However, let's get back to the main topic at hand," he quickly changed subjects as he cleared his throat. "You said that you were summoned to the harbor by some unknown person around the time when the murder occurred. You were then waiting around for the person who summoned you there when the incident took place."

"Well, that is what the defendant is claiming to have happened," Vector responded with a hint of disbelief in his words as he changed the placement of his headset so that one of his ears was free. It was his job to doubt the defendant on what he said, so Sonic was expecting some kind of resistance. It still hurt, however, for him to hear his best friend being referred to as a liar. "Despite whether or not his recollection of that day is the truth, the main point is that he was there when the murder took place. If we are to sort out whatever it is to be the truth from this testimony, then I believe a cross-examination is in order. Do you think you'll be able to handle such a daunting task, amateur attorney?"

"Alright, there's no need for you to go harrying the defense, Prosecutor Vector," the man lightly reprimanded the crocodile before turning his attention towards Sonic. "Mr. Sonic, you may now proceed with your cross-examination."

"Yes, Your Honor," the hedgehog responded as he glared minutely at the prosecutor across from him for the comment he had made earlier. He then thought silently to himself, _It's time to see what it is I can learn from Tails' testimony. Time to prove to the prosecutor that he's anything but a liar. I just hope that he didn't end up saying anything that'll end up hurting me after I break it down._

**_Begin Cross-Examination_**

"Mr. Prower, you said earlier that you received a phone call by an anonymous person who requested that you to meet him at Mobius Harbor," Sonic repeated a small portion of what the fox had said earlier. He made sure to keep the cross-examination on a professional level so as to not have the court believe he was committing favoritism by speaking so familiarly with the witness. That and he did not want to get grilled by Dr. Robotnik for unprofessionalism after the trial was over. "Do you remember what was mentioned in that conversation?"

"I do, Mr. Sonic; however, there really isn't all that much to recall," Tails answered as he crossed his arms and tried to remember the details of the call. His eyes, which looked at Sonic as he answered the question, showed that he understood what the hedgehog was doing and would play along with the formality front. "Our conversation lasted no more than a minute at the most. It was mainly the person saying that he had something important to tell me and he couldn't afford being overheard over the phone."

"Hmm, this person sounds quite suspicious," the Judge commented as he furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Did you say he told you that he was an officer? I find it hard to believe that such a man would behave so questionably."

"Actually, he said that he was a freelance private detective who happened to be working with the police," the fox quickly clarified. "I was skeptical at first when he told me to meet with him, especially when he claims to only be working as a freelancer. However, he persuaded me by saying that he had some bad news about one of my friends. He even mentioned them by name, so he pretty much convinced me to meet up with him. Needless to say, he managed to lure me out by appealing to my sense of concern."

"And did you end up ever meeting up with this person?" the hedgehog asked. "Do you remember what he said or looked like? Anything that you remember that can help us identify who this person is?"

"Sorry, but I didn't end up meeting with the caller that evening. If he did come by to the harbor, then it must have been during or after everything had gone bad. I never once saw any sign of him before the incident occurred."

"As interesting as all this is, I fail to see just how this unknown caller has any kind of relations to this case," Vector stated as he fiddled around with gold chain that was hanging around his neck. It was clear he was becoming annoyed with an explanation that seemingly held no importance whatsoever to the trial. "There's nothing in it that can either prove or disprove the defendant's innocence. I object to this pointless line of questioning."

"Objection sustained," the old man announced with before bringing down his gavel to officiate the order. "Mr. Sonic, I suggest that you abandon this topic and continue on with your cross-examination."

"Yes, Your Honor," Sonic replied in a submitting tone before letting out a small sigh. He then stated once he thought of a new line of questioning, "So this mysterious caller asked for you to meet him at the main office building at the Mobius Harbor at around nine that night. Did he tell you to wait for him inside or out?"

"He only said to wait around the main office; he never said anything about going inside," Tails replied with a small frown. "I don't think I could've waited inside even if I wanted to, anyway. The door was locked tight, and nobody answered when I knocked. There was a window there, but it was a bit too high for me to look through. I basically had nowhere else to wait except just outside."

"Hold on a second!" the hedgehog interrupted the young fox with a raise of his hand. "You said earlier in your testimony that you ran back to the office to call for help when the accident happened. However, you just said that the door was locked when you first arrived. How could you have gone in to call for help?"

"I believe I can answer that one," Vector spoke up as he stared down at a piece of paper that was in his hand. "The defendant said that he had arrived a little before nine that evening. The workers tend to change office shifts five minutes before nine. They keep the door locked since no one would be tending to the office during that five-minute gap. When the murder happened, it understandably caused quite a commotion; a worker who had the key to the office with him ran inside to get the First Aid Kit before going to check the scene. He thus left the door unlocked in his rush.

"And if you'll just look at the Crime Scene Photo, you'll see the kit sitting on the floor next to the victim," he further explained as he pulled out said picture. "They are only located within the office, so somebody must have went inside during the time the defendant was not near the building. I hope that this will be enough to explain just how the locked door suddenly became unlocked."

"So that's what the red object in the photo was," the Judge responded in realization. Sonic merely frowned at the reasonably sound explanation that had been rubbed into his face. "I was wondering what that was this whole time. But just for the record, did the defendant bring out the First Aid Kit himself?"

"I didn't have a chance to do so," the young fox responded with a shake of his head. "Like I said earlier, I made my way to the office so as to call for help. While I was doing so, two workers came in and kept me from leaving the building. One of them took a First Aid Kit and left while the other kept me in the building until the police arrived. I was then arrested a few minutes later after they spoke with the one who kept me from leaving."

"So you're saying that there was a witness to this terrible incident?" the old man asked with his eyes now trained at the prosecution. "This sounds like a pretty important detail. Why haven't we heard from this person yet?"

"Because I don't feel that he is necessary to close this rather simple case," the crocodile explained with a smug smile. "He heard the murder take place and ran to the office where he saw the accused standing by the phone. He then instructed his coworker to keep watch over him while he went to see if anybody was hurt. There's nothing of importance there to cross-examine lest you would wish for me to waste the court's time with it."

"Hmm, I suppose you do raise a good point there, Prosecutor Vector. The testimony the defendant has already supplied us seems quite straightforward and warrants no reasonable cause as of now to hear about the witness's account of that evening. You may continue on with your cross-examination, Mr. Sonic."

"If you don't mind, I would like for us to do a bit of backtracking," Sonic said as he thought back to his buddy's testimony. "You said that after you saw the victim being crushed by the fallen cargo container, you decided to go call for help. Before you did, the victim managed to grab ahold of your leg. Chances are that you were the last person to see him alive, so can you tell us what happened in those few seconds?"

"To be perfectly honest, I don't remember much about that moment," Tails admitted, his bottom lip being bitten in nervousness no doubt brought about by the question. "My adrenaline was pumping at full blast the whole time. All I could think about was finding some help for the man. I think I felt him shove something into my hand, but by the time I had calmed down and remembered that action, I didn't see anything. I must have dropped it sometime between going to call for help and being arrested."

"And do you remember what this item felt like?" the hedgehog questioned, hoping that the boy's subconscious was working well enough during those high adrenaline moments. "It has to be important if the victim passed it on to you."

"Objection, Your Honor!" Vector exclaimed as he let out a little snort. His arms were crossed in a defiant manner as he looked annoyed somewhat. "Mr. Sonic is wasting the court's time pursuing this question. The defendant has already admitted that he didn't see what if anything he received from the victim. There's no way he can tell you what it was even if they could prove it exists!"

"He hasn't even said anything in regards to that yet, Prosecutor Vector!" the defense attorney quickly countered as he tried to keep his line of attack. "You can't just keep him from not answering the question when there isn't anything saying that he never received anything from the victim. Unless you happen to have evidence of that nature which you've been holding out on us for some reason…"

Instead of providing another explanation, the crocodile simply pursed his lips and glared at the other. It was clear by this action even before the Judge has said anything that he knew he was going to lose this argument.

"It appears that the prosecution isn't in a position to adequately back up his claims," the Judge noted after waiting a couple of seconds for a response. "As such, I'll have to overrule their previous objection. I'll allow the witness to answer the defense's question." He then quickly shifted his attention towards Tails. "Young man, do you remember what the object the victim gave to you felt like?"

"Uh, I kind of remember feeling something kind of sharp lightly pricking my hand when I had my hand in a fist," the fox said as he tried to remember something that was not clearly all there in his mind. "But it wasn't overly sharp since it didn't pierce the skin of my palm. I think I also heard some kind of light crinkling noise, but I'm not overly sure about that. I'm sorry that I couldn't be more informative about this."

"That's really all you can remember?" Sonic asked as he scrunched his eyebrows in concern. "I guess I was being a bit hopeful there. Still I was actually kind of hoping you'd give us something new to work with."

"Unfortunately for you, that doesn't seem to be the case," the crocodile responded with an annoyed click of his tongue. "As I was arguing earlier, the only purpose your question served was to waste the court's time! The defendant clearly can't remember what it was that he had in his hands. Of course, that's only provided that there was even anything passed on to him from the victim in the first place. I hardly find this to be the case since we only have the word of the accused to go with."

"I suppose we were asking for a bit much," the old man admitted, carefully refraining from saying more on the subject since he did allow for the explanation to be made. "Oh well, better to have tried than to simply ignore it. Is there anything else that you would like to hear from the defendant, Mr. Sonic?"

**_End Cross-examination_**

"I've no more questions, Your Honor," Sonic simply replied, his eyes suddenly shining with realization as he figured out something that could help him get one step closer to Tails's acquittal. "However, I would like to use this time to present the court with some evidence. I admit that I was a bit skeptical upon hearing my client's explanation, but I now see that what he said holds some level of importance!"

"Oh, I definitely have to hear what kind of rookie explanation you cooked up in that head of yours," Vector stated in intrigue as he began fiddling with his gold chain once again. Whether he was being sarcastic or genuinely interested was hard to tell; his stoic glance aimed at the hedgehog did little to help determine his official attitude. "I like to see how you're going to connect the defendant's statement with an apparently nonexistent piece of evidence. If you're just trying to waste our time, then I'll make your debut case very memorable by getting you kicked out of here for wasting our time!"

"That's enough, Prosecutor Vector!" the Judge warned as he banged on his gavel to try and bring order back into the courtroom. He then turned his attention back to the hedgehog who had since began rummaging through his evidence. "Mr. Sonic, do you have evidence that might indicate as to what it was the victim might have handed to the witness? Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what it sounded like you were alluding to."

"You would be right about that, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog responded confidently as he picked up the plastic bag that held the Victim's Note and placed it underneath a camera-like machine that was on his table. "As the court can see, this piece of paper was written in blood. An analysis has proven that it belonged to Mr. O'Altraids."

"And how is this supposed to help prove what the defendant was holding onto?" the crocodile asked, his attention hardly on the presented evidence. "All it proves was that it was written with the victim's blood."

"That's because you're not looking beyond that fact. If you would pretend for a moment that the message isn't on it, then you'll see that it has shown signs of being crumpled up once before. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't paper make a crinkling sound when crumpled and can lightly prick your hand when in a ball?"

"H-hold on a second!" the prosecutor suddenly explained as he seemed to finally catch on to what Sonic was saying. "Are you saying that this piece of trash was what the victim passed onto the defendant? I've never heard of anything like that being found throughout the entire investigation! Where did you find it?"

"Well, I didn't personally find it myself. My mentor was the one to have collected the evidence before handing off the case to me. However, he did tell me that it was discovered underneath the desk where the phone was situated inside the main office building at the harbor. And since the defendant was busy in there calling the police, it seems more than probable that he dropped this paper during his moment of adrenaline. Put the two together and I say that he did have in hand what the victim gave him but dropped it when he was suddenly surprised by the introduction of two harbor workers!"

"Are you kidding me?_!_" Vector angrily exclaimed as he held a tight grip on his gold chain. His headset even became a bit uneven as he violently shook his head. "I've never been informed about this piece of trash before! I've been in contact with the detective in charge of the investigation since it first started!"

"Maybe he had forgotten to inform you about it on top of everything else that he had to take care of. Either way, it should be clear to you now that the item the victim gave to the defendant does, in fact, exist! It's also clear that this note meets the conditions of what Mr. Prower said he remembered being shoved into his hands. As such, the victim give something to the defendant before he died. This should officially throw your argument that it never existed out the window."

"You cocky rookie!" the crocodile growled as he accidentally pulled down on his chain, causing his head to suddenly sink closer to his table in the process. Even the entire courtroom started murmuring amongst themselves in amazement. "That detective's going to be in a world of hurt once I get my hands on him!"

"Order!" the Judge commanded as he banged at his gavel in order to quell the gallery's murmurings and get back into pace with the trial. "The defense has brought up a valid point. That would then make this piece of paper a true note from the victim. It should be clear then that this was written by his own hand. However, can we really say with such certainty that he was trying to impart to the defendant the name of the true perpetrator?"

"That's the next question that we'll have to start finding an answer for," Sonic responded as he allowed a triumphant smile approach his lips. This was the first piece of evidence of his career he presented without any problems; he also managed to make the prosecutor look like a fool for not knowing anything about it at the same time. "Since this is truly Mr. O'Altraids's dying words, it would only make sense that he would write down the name or even telltale details regarding his murderer!"

"…Ha, I highly doubt that's the case this time around!" Vector responded with renewed cockiness as he started examining the Victim's Note. "I agree with you that one who is near death after being attacked would try to leave some kind of obvious clue about their attacker. Unless my eyes are failing me here, all that's written on that piece of scrap is 'Blue Ocean'. Unless he's saying that the ocean itself caused the container to fall on him and end his life, I would hardly refer to this as a competent piece of evidence!"

"I object to that, Prosecutor Vector!" Sonic quickly countered. "While it might seem like just a bunch of gibberish to us all, the very fact that the victim wrote that and gave it to Mr. Prower is proof enough that this an important piece of evidence. Why would he spend the last of his strength to write that note in his own blood before handing it to the defendant? Before we star disregarding this note as a credible piece of evidence, we should examine it further and see if we can unearth something new. Until then, you can't ignore the possibility of the significance it holds to this case!"

Instead of providing another counter-explanation, the prosecutor let out a growl of frustration. It was clear that he was not happy about the fact that he was slowly starting to lose his standing on the case.

"Well, it looks like the defense has created a sound argument," the old man responded after hearing both sides bicker on about the subject. "So long as there's the potential of another suspect being named in the Victim's Note, I can't say with full certainty that Mr. Prower was the one to have murdered Mr. O'Altraids. I'm afraid that I'll have to postpone this trial until we can unfurl the mystery behind this."

"…So is that your current stance on this case, Your Honor?" Vector softly asked as he examined the papers in front of him.

"Well, unless you have evidence that can disprove the relevancy of this note, I'm afraid I cannot look past this cloud of doubt. Do you have anything that could prove this paper written by our victim is nothing but a piece of worthless babble?"

"I believe I can prove that the defense's efforts here was nothing but a red herring, Your Honor," the crocodile replied with a smile that showed he was definitely not making a bluff. This quickly put a damper on Sonic's happy mood and made his stomach do a sudden sinking feeling. "I'm quite confident that this will be enough to prove that only the defendant was the one capable to have carried out this murder!"

"My, this sounds like an interesting turn of events. Prosecutor Vector, would you be so kind as to present to the court whatever it is you have that will prove this note to be nothing more than complete gibberish?"

"I'm afraid that I don't have anything on me that can prove it. However, I believe there is someone who can do the job for me."

"Wait a minute," the cobalt hedgehog spoke up, a feeling coming over him that he knew what Vector's next move was going to be. "Are you thinking of calling up the worker that we made brief mention of earlier? I thought you said that it was a waste of the court's time if we brought him in to testify."

"I'll admit that I might have jumped the gun when I made that statement," the prosecutor admitted with a small shrug of his shoulders as if he only suffered a minor injury. "However, that was before you showed me the existence of the Victim's Note. Now that I know about that, I now feel that it is appropriate to summon the dock worker to the stand so we can clear up this little mess you so kindly brought upon us."

"And just what is it that this witness has to say that will shed light to this court in regards to the note?" the Judge asked with a raised eyebrow as he was seriously considering the benefits of calling a new witness. "I need to know whether or not it's enough to warrant a continuation of today's proceedings."

"If you really want to know, then I suppose I have no choice but to tell you all," he announced, making Tails, who had been standing quietly on the witness stand the entire time, more nervous than he had ever remembered being in his entire life. "This witness can testify that he saw the defendant cause the crane above the victim's head to malfunction and force it to drop onto him, thus causing this to become the murder that it is today!"

"Wh-what?_!_" Sonic exclaimed loudly. This sudden revelation caused the entire audience section of the court to start talking amongst themselves as they tried to make sense of the new information the crocodile presented.

"Order in the court!" the old man shouted in a booming voice as he banged his gavel repeatedly in an attempt to regain the courtroom's attention. After spending a good minute trying to calm everybody down, the room fell silent once again. "Prosecutor Vector, I order you to summon your next witness!"

"I'm afraid that I'm going to need a bit of time if he is to be ready to testify, Your Honor," Vector responded with a smile as he put on his headset and began nodding his head minutely to the music flowing out of it.

"Then I'll call for a ten-minute recess," the old man announced as he banged his gavel to make the suggestion official. "I'm expecting to hear from this new witness when we reconvene. Court is now in recess!"

_What the heck just happened?_ the cobalt hedgehog wondered as the thought of having to cross-examine another witness in order to prove Tails's innocence brought him down from his victorious high. _ I thought I had everything under control. I should've known that it wouldn't be that simple to just present a piece of paper and hope that'd get Tails off the hook. Looks like I'll have to go through this next witness if I want to have any hope at clearing his name. I just hope this new guy doesn't say anything that'll kill me._

When the rookie attorney glanced over at Tails who was now being escorted out into the lobby by the bailiff, he saw that the fox had a look of concern. It was clear he was thinking the same thing. It looked like he was going to have to comfort not only himself but the poor fox as well during this break as he followed closely behind him. Ten minutes was definitely not going to be enough time to recover from the prosecution's sudden recovery.

* * *

><p>For those of you who still don't know what game I based this on, I'll tell you now. It's from the Phoenix Wright series. I just had to put the Sonic guys in this universe and see how things would be if they were solving crime and taking out criminals like this. Things are bound to be interesting.<p>

For those of you who have played along, thanks for doing so. Don't forget to leave a review about what you thought of it before you move on to your next story. Stay tuned for part 2 of this case!

I know I said at the beginning that I'll only do an evidence recap at the beginning of each chapter, but I'll do it at the end of this chapter, but only for this one being that this is the very first chapter of this series. So here it is along with the character biographies! I want to keep this as close to the style of Phoenix Wright as I possibly can.

**Evidence:**

Attorney's Badge: Nobody would believe that Sonic was a defense attorney if he didn't have it pinned proudly upon his chest. He earned it after passing the bar exam almost a month ago.

Crime Scene Photo: Depicts a gruesome scene at Mobius Harbor. The victim is seen lying stomach down on the floor with his arms above his head, a large cargo container crushing him below the waist. The Mobius Harbor office can be seen in the background, the word 'OFFICE' clearly written along the wall and above the windows.

Mr. O'Altraids's Autopsy Report: A Report detailing Mr. O'Altraid's death. He was killed on 2/2 at nine in the evening. Blood loss due to severance and crushing of entire lower body was the cause of death. There was a chance he survived for a few minutes after the initial impact.

First Aid Kit: A red box containing medical supplies for certain emergencies. One was found next to the victim and is clearly seen in the photo. They can only be retrieved from the Mobius Harbor office building.

Victim's Note: Found inside the Mobius Harbor main office building underneath the desk where the office phone is located. "Blue Ocean" is written from the victim's blood. It's believed to point to the true killer.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old blue furred male hedgehog. Passed the bar exam with flying colors, allowing him to earn his Attorney's Badge a year earlier than normal. Has a likable and confident attitude about him, but gets nervous easily when in the courtroom.

Miles Prower: The suspect in the case. A twelve-year-old yellow furred fox who has two tails instead of one, resulting him in being constantly teased by others and not having many friends in the process. Sees Sonic as an older brother figure. Loves the nickname "Tails" Sonic gave him when they first met.

Dr. Robotnik: A fifty-five-year-old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. Taking charge of the current case at hand. Loves the gold chain necklace on him and listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. Can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side. Also does not seem to hold a lot of respect for Sonic.

Jak O'Altraids: The victim in this case. A thirty-year-old man who is definitely a jack of all trades. He prefers to work on part-time jobs that nobody would usually want to work, such as the job as a harbor cargo loader and inspector he was working as before his death.


	2. Seaside Harbor Murder Pt 2

Hello everybody! Yes, this is a speedy update I put up here. Boy, writing up seventeen pages in less than twenty-four hours is definitely a hard thing to do. But I just had to finish up this case because it was all in my mind driving me nuts.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed the first chapter. I really tried to make it so that you could try and figure things out on your own before you read on. For those of you who don't like doing that, I at least managed to format it so that it would be a seamless story. Don't forget to leave a review before you leave. They are very helpful.

Here are the recap of the evidence. And just to say, I'll post the new evidence and people introduced in this chapter at the bottom so that there won't be any spoilers at the beginning. Remember, any new evidence you run into will be posted at the bottom, and you'll know if they are evidence if the name is capitalized.

* * *

><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Nobody would believe that Sonic was a defense attorney if he didn't have it pinned proudly upon his chest. He earned it after passing the bar exam almost a month ago.

Crime Scene Photo: Depicts a gruesome scene at Mobius Harbor. The victim is seen lying stomach down on the floor with his arms above his head, a large cargo container crushing him below the waist. The Mobius Harbor office can be seen in the background, the word 'OFFICE' clearly written along the wall and above the windows.

Mr. O'Altraids's Autopsy Report: A report detailing Mr. O'Altraid's death. He was killed on 2/2 at nine in the evening. Blood loss due to severance and crushing of entire lower body was the cause of death. There was a chance he survived for a few minutes after the initial impact.

First Aid Kit: A red box containing medical supplies for certain emergencies. One was found next to the victim and is clearly seen in the photo. They can only be retrieved from the Mobius Harbor office building.

Victim's Note: Found inside the Mobius Harbor main office building underneath the desk where the office phone is located. "Blue Ocean" is written from the victim's blood. It's believed to point to the true killer.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old blue furred male hedgehog. Passed the bar exam with flying colors, allowing him to earn his Attorney's Badge years earlier than he was supposed to. Has a likable and confident attitude about him, but gets nervous easily when in the courtroom.

Miles Prower: The suspect in the case. A twelve-year-old yellow furred fox who has two tails instead of one, resulting him in being constantly teased by others and not having many friends in the process. Sees Sonic as an older brother figure. Loves the nickname "Tails" Sonic gave him when they first met.

Dr. Robotnik: A fifty-five-year-old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. Taking charge of the current case at hand. Loves the gold chain necklace on him and listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. Can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side. Also does not seem to hold a lot of respect for Sonic.

Jak O'Altraids: The victim in this case. A thirty-year-old man who is definitely a jack of all trades. He prefers to work on part-time jobs that nobody would usually want to work, such as the job as a harbor cargo loader and inspector he was working as before his death.

* * *

><p>"Well, that definitely wasn't how I thought the trial would turn out," Sonic grumbled as he was seated on one of the lobby's chairs. "It's not as easy as I thought, but I did think it'd be a lot simpler. Eh, I guess I shouldn't be worried too much about it so long as I continue pointing out contradictions and make that prosecutor look like an idiot. Oh, I so loved the look on his face when I pointed out the Victim's Note," he added with a smug grin.<p>

"Just make sure that the contradictions you do point out end up helping me get out of this mess," Tails reminded as he took a sip of water he helped himself to earlier. "If Prosecutor Vector's new witness really can prove that the note is an unreliable piece of evidence, we'll be in a lot of trouble. You probably should be using this recess wondering how you're going to prove it points to the real killer."

"…Yeah, I don't think I really have anything like that on me right now," the cobalt hedgehog replied as his grin quickly turned sheepish. "I think I might actually have to wait and see what this new witness has to say if I'm going to prove you innocent. Until then, let's just think about what we know and how we can use it later. And speaking of which, do you think you can tell me a little something before we go back inside?"

"It depends if it's something I have the answer for," the young fox simply replied as he tossed his now empty cup into a nearby trash bin.

"Well, I kind of want to know just where exactly you were standing when the murder happened. I know that you were outside, but do you mind giving me a more definite position? Here, you can mark it with this pen on this diagram of the harbor."

Taking out a red pen and a folded piece of paper, Sonic handed both off to the other in order to mark down the information he asked for. When Tails unfolded it, he saw that it was an overhead view of the portion of the harbor where the murder took place. It had details already on it like where the victim was killed and where the office was located. It even went so far as to show the placement of cargo crates that were there at the time waiting to be transported and the spots that were available to walk through.

After marveling at what the Mobius Harbor Diagram held, he took the pen and marked a spot on the left side of the office with an X on it next to a symbol that represented the window. He then drew a line around the crates towards where the victim was killed before he was finished with the illustration.

"I was standing around here when I heard the crate falling," the fox stated as he passed back both the pen and diagram to the other. "This may not be exactly right, but it shows the general path I took to get over to where I found the victim. I was afraid I might get a bit lost since I couldn't see over the crates where exactly I was going."

"And we already know what happened after you got there," Sonic said more to himself as he carefully examined the new markings. "And you said that the door to the office was locked before this all happened. Are you absolutely sure about that?"

"What part of 'locked' did you not understand? It wouldn't open even if I tried throwing my weight against it. It wasn't until I went back to try and call for help was I able to get in without any trouble. It sounds like the prosecution was right in saying that one of the dock workers had went in and left it unlocked during the time I was gone."

"And you are sure that there wasn't anybody inside the office when you first tried to go in and wait for your mysterious caller?"

"I couldn't see through the window because it was so high up, but I didn't get any answer when I knocked. Besides, I did say I arrived a little before nine, and the workers were changing shifts during that time."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," the cobalt hedgehog admitted with a small smile as he saw the bailiff nearby signal to his watch as if saying that their time was almost up. "I think it's almost time to continue on with the show. You ready?"

"I think that you should be asking yourself that," Tails responded with a small shrug of his shoulders. He then added with a small snigger, "You know, it's kind of funny to see you actually acting all serious for a change. That definitely doesn't sound like the Sonic I remember becoming friends with."

"Hey, would you rather I be serious and win this case for you or goof around and have it be thrown out like yesterday's trash?"

Before the young fox could respond, the bailiff made a move towards the courtroom doors and opened them up. He then stood beside the doorway with an arm motioning inside, an indicator that he had wanted them to go in.

"And like clockwork, recess is over," the hedgehog simply responded. "Come on, Tails; let's go and get your name cleared. It's time to show them all how wrong they are to think of you as a murderer!"

"Good luck with that, Sonic," the fox said as he went in first to his assigned seat with the bailiff following close behind him. The hedgehog followed suit a second later and took his spot behind his assigned desk. He noticed that the prosecutor and Judge had already since took their respective positions, so it seemed that they were all waiting for him to come in so they could continue on with the proceedings.

"Court will now reconvene!" the Judge announced after a few seconds with a pound of his gavel, quickly silencing what little chatter was still going on. "Prosecutor Vector, is your witness ready to be called upon the stand?"

"As ready as he'll ever be, Your Honor," Vector responded coolly as he placed the left portion of his headset over his ear. "I don't know about the defense, but I certainly didn't waste my recess time doing nothing."

"Very well then; let the prosecutor's next witness take the stand!" the old man instructed as the bailiff walked outside for a moment before returning. Following behind him was a man who looked rather young with a good crop of black hair on top of his head. He was dressed in a greenish-blue jumper suit that had an insignia sewn on to the front along with a pair of simple brown work boots. It was clear this was his work uniform and that he was most likely pulled out of work in order to testify before them.

"Will the witness please state his name and profession for the court?" the prosecutor asked the witness, as it was customary for him to do so.

"I don't see why not," the man responded as he took his spot by the witness podium that Tails had taken residency to a few minutes ago. Sonic made sure to prepare himself for whatever it was this man had to say. "My name is Naeco Eulb, and I am a dock worker down at Mobius Harbor. I was the one assigned to oversee things on the night this incident occurred. I suppose you could interpret that as me being the boss at the time."

"So as far as we're concerned, you were the designated supervisor for that particular evening," the crocodile replied succinctly. "Would you kindly explain to the court what it was that you saw on the night of the murder?"

"Well, I saw the defendant cause the crane to malfunction and allow the cargo crate to fall on top of Mr. O'Altraids," Naeco simply stated, causing the audience to mutter amongst themselves upon hearing this. The hedgehog could only stare back at the man in shock as he announced his accusation.

"Order!" the Judge loudly commanded as he managed to quell the gallery. "Mr. Eulb, this is an extremely grave claim that you've presented to us! Are you absolutely sure that this was what you saw?"

"I don't think I'd be in this courtroom if I wasn't, Your Honor," the witness replied without any sort of indifference, his attitude reflecting his sureness at what he saw that night. "The boy was simply loitering around the area when I first caught sight of him. It wasn't until a little bit after that when this whole mess came about. He was the only strange person there who looked suspicious, was clearly out of place, and had the clear opportunity to have performed this rather extravagant murder."

"If that's the case, then please provide the court your testimony with regards to this matter!" the old man commanded with a pounding of his gavel. "Tell us why you believe that it could only be the defendant to have caused the crane to malfunction."

_We haven't even been back in session for ten minutes and things have already taken a turn for the worse!_ the hedgehog thought with a frustrated mental groan at the change of pace. _But I know that Tails is innocent, so that either means this man is mistaken or just plain lying. I better listen carefully to what he has to say about what he saw and find a contradiction in it or I'll be screwed._

_**What I Witnessed**_

I believe that it was a little bit before nine when Mr. O'Altraids was tragically killed, probably even just a couple minutes before. I was heading to the office so as to begin my shift as the evening superior. When I arrived, I saw the defendant loitering around the building. I was about to approach him and ask what he was doing before something else caught my attention. As such, I wasn't paying much heed to the boy. Unfortunately, it was during that time he managed to force a cargo container that was in the middle of being loaded onto a ship to fall. I heard the resulting crash and shouts of concern from fellow dock workers before seeing the boy run to where the container fell.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"So you're saying that you did not directly witness my client doing something that caused the container to fall," Sonic surmised once the testimony was finished. "Mr. Eulb, you failed to mention one key detail in your testimony. Mainly, you left out the part where you say you saw Mr. Prower physically doing something to make the crane malfunction! I think that was your purpose for coming up here today."

"I must agree with the defense on this one," the Judge stated with a nod of his head. "It was by the recommendation of Prosecutor Vector that I allowed you to take the stand today. However, it sounds like from your own testimony that you didn't see the defendant perform the crime with his own hands. I can't see how this is going to be of much help to the prosecution's arguments."

"If that's the case, then how about we go ahead and move on to the cross-examination?" Vector suggested with a smile as if the concerns raised by the court were nothing to worry about. "While I agree that it isn't as concrete as I would've liked, Mr. Eulb has directly witnessed the events moments before the murder happened. In the scope of things, it just so happens to place the defendant in a rather questionable position for that evening.

"For those of you who are still skeptical, I'm sure you'll be swayed into knowing just how reliable this witness is once the defense goes about with their dissection of his statements," he added with a very sure and cocky smile directed at the hedgehog. "After all, I doubt that he'll be able to find a single contradiction in this flawless testimony."

"I suppose that we don't have much of a choice in the matter," the old man responded with a sigh. "Even though it is circumstantial at best, the testimony does seem to put the defendant in a rather difficult position. However, the defense does have a right to perform a cross-examination if that's what they so wish to do. Would I be right in assuming that to be the case, Mr. Sonic?"

"Of course, Your Honor," the hedgehog replied with a nod of his head as he prepared himself to ask the key questions he needed answers to. He then added silently to himself, _To not take up this opportunity is basically telling Tails that I've given up on him. You'd have to catch me dead and in a grave before I let that happen!_

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Mr. Eulb, you said earlier that you were heading towards the office in order to begin your shift as the evening supervisor," Sonic began the cross-examination as he recalled the testimony given a couple minutes ago. "Do you mind telling me what it was you were doing before that and where you were coming from?"

"Well, I was conducting some routine maintenance work on a fuse box that was located all the way on the other side of the harbor," Naeco explained. "The area had been off-limits for a good week already since the lights were refusing to turn on. This was all because of a blown-out fuse that everybody has been procrastinating on getting repaired. You don't know how dangerous it is for us harbor workers to be working at night next to a bunch of cargo with varying values. There are always a lot of shady characters hanging around up to no good in those blind spots. It's especially bad around the harbor where people are always wanting to try stealing cargo from incoming ships. Needless to say, getting those lights back to working order was a high priority on our list."

"So you had just returned from your maintenance duties from the far end of the harbor," the Judge surmised with a thoughtful look on his face. "And you say that you were heading towards the office to start on your next assignment?"

"That's correct," the witness replied with a smile. "I'm sure this was already mentioned to the courts earlier, but I was the supervisor for that evening. It was important for me to make my presence known inside the office so as to oversee everything that went on in the harbor. I was also there in order to receive any calls that might come in. Never know when the higher-ups might make a last-minute change and have us prep a cargo container."

"Do you happen to have any proof that you were working on the fuse box up until the few minutes before the murder?" the hedgehog asked, hoping that he would be able to find an opening in that line of thought. "Were there any witnesses around you at the time or a security camera catching you at work with the maintenance?"

"The other workers collaborated with the witness's claim when the police questioned them about it," Vector answered as he picked up a piece of paper lying on his desk. "This is a sworn affidavit from all the workers there saying that the lights had been out of order until sometime before the murder took place. They all said they saw the lights at the far end of the harbor suddenly turn on."

"But did they any of them say anything about seeing Mr. Eulb fixing the fuse box with their own eyes?" the other repeated. "You still haven't fully answered my question. Seeing him working on the repairs and only seeing the lights suddenly turn on are two entirely different things to be witnessing."

"It appears I wasn't terribly clear for you the first time around," the prosecutor said with a sigh before shaking his head. "I suppose I should've said that _all_ of the workers that were assigned to work at the harbor that night have sworn to this affidavit. The only one who didn't swear by it is the witness himself. It should be clear to you by process of elimination that the witness was the one who fixed the fuse box that night."

"The prosecution does raise a valid point on this," the Judge merely agreed. "Mr. Sonic, I suggest that you move on with a different question now."

"Yes, Your Honor," the attorney answered with a scowl before coming up with another suitable question. "How about we move onto the moment you first arrived at the office? I believe you said that you saw the defendant 'loitering around' the building. Could you tell me exactly what it was you observed him doing?"

"Well, he was just kind of switching from pacing back and forth and leaning against the wall," Naeco explained as he recalled what he saw. "It might've been just me at the time, but he appeared to be a bit nervous with his constant fidgeting. I was going to confront him as to what he was doing there, but one of my coworkers called me saying that he had something he wanted to speak to me about."

"And it was in those few moments of distraction that the murder was allowed to take place?" the old man asked, his voice showing curiosity as to how such a short window of time could allow the defendant the time to commit murder. "Isn't it amazing how one moment of distraction could be enough time to allow a crime to be committed?"

"I never thought that I would have the power to prevent something like this only to have been distracted from doing so," the witness said with a sad sigh leaving his lips. "Jak was a pretty model employee, too. He was somebody I'm sure every boss wished they had on their team. It's such a shame that a man such as him had to go and die in such a terrible fashion. I'm sure the working world will be sad to see him gone."

"If you don't me asking, just how did you deduced that it was my client who caused the crate to fall without confronting him?" Sonic continued on, mentally wondering if he simply imagined that small hint of sarcasm in the witness's words just now. "I believe that the only time you really approached him was in the minutes after the murder when he ran into the office so as to call for help."

"Oh, that's something that can easily be explained. You see, there is a button that controls the grappling mechanism of the crane situated along the wall the boy was loitering around. It's only meant to be used for emergencies such as an earthquake or electrical shortage, something that has the potential to knock out electricity during the transport of the cargo containers. During such moments, we would immediately clear the area before pressing the emergency button so as to prevent any fatal accidents. After all, it's our policy to rather have collateral damage than fatal injuries if we can so avoid it."

"In other words, it's an emergency switch that would allow whatever is on the crane to fall to the ground should something happen with the electricity," Vector repeated in basic terms. "As he just stated, the area would've been cleared before such a system was activated. Still, he made it clear that it served as a safety feature in order to prevent any injuries to those who are nearby during such a precarious situation."

"And it's on this reasoning alone you say that you knew beyond a doubt my client was the one to have caused Mr. O'Altraids's untimely death?" Sonic asked, wanting to make sure he had all the facts straight. "By what you've already told us, it seems like he's the only person you're choosing to implicate."

"I don't think 'choose' would be the right word for this," Naeco replied with a frown while loosely crossing his arms. "The defendant was the only person I saw the whole evening who had the opportunity to pull this off. I'm in no position to be picking who I want to point my finger at and accuse of this crime.

"However, that's beside the point. In the current scope of things, I can't see how anybody would have the time and chance to make this happen apart from the boy. My guess is that he had probably planned to do Jak for quite a while. That would explain why he was so fidgety just seconds before."

"And how do you propose the defendant had planned to 'do Jak in' as you so nicely phrased?" the hedgehog asked, silently hoping that this question will be able to grant him the contradiction he had been desperately digging around for.

"Well, the boy would've had to somehow get the man to stand at the exact spot he was killed," the man explained. "Once that was done, he would then patiently wait over by the emergency button where he'll then be a safe distance away from the crash. Once he saw that the cargo container was hovering over the poor man, all he'd have to do is push the button and be done with it. I don't see any other way how he could've crushed the man to death with frighteningly good accuracy."

"Hmm, that sounds like a rather strong possibility," the Judge responded with furrowed eyebrows as he allowed the idea to roll around his head for a bit. "It's also a good way to ensure that he doesn't get caught in the potential debris flow and be injured. Does the defense have any problems with this explanation of things?"

"…Well, I do have one notable concern about all this. Even if what the witness said is the truth, what possible motive could Mr. Prower have for wanting to kill Mr. O'Altraids in the first place? I don't think I need to say that performing a murder of this complexity is more trouble than it is actually worth, so he must have had a good reason to do this. The prosecution has failed to make any mention of plausible motive!"

"Objection, Your Honor!" the crocodile countered as he messed around with his gold chain. "The question this case has provided us doesn't involve why the defendant chose to enact such a convoluted plan for murder; it's whether or not he was the one responsible for an innocent man's untimely death!"

"But that still leaves the question about motive hanging in the air!" Sonic countered back with a small snarl at the other's tendency to sidestep his original questions. "Just what exactly is in my client's recent history with the victim that would drive him to want to commit murder? I don't think I need to point out to the court that the two never even seen each other until just after the victim was crushed."

"Unfortunately, I have to concede to you on that," the prosecutor simply replied with little resistance. "As of this moment, I have yet to find anything that can hold any semblance of motive in the defendant's eyes. However, this fails to change the fact that our witness here saw the defendant loitering around next to the emergency button just before the victim was crushed! He even said that he saw him acting all nervous and suspicious just moments before. Even if motive hasn't been established yet, it's clear to anybody that only the defendant could've had the chance to commit this murder!"

"That's enough, you two!" the old man commanded with a slam of his gavel that immediately quieted the two attorneys. "While I agree with the defense in regards to the lack of a clear motive, the prosecution has adequately proven that the defendant had both the time and opportunity to commit the crime. As such, I ask that the defense put a stop on their argument concerning motive."

"…As you say, Your Honor," the hedgehog growled out as he failed to keep his end of the argument as persuasive as it could have been. It was infuriating at how on every turn his questions were being passed off as useless.

"Now that we've settled this little problem, are there any more questions that the defense would like to have answered by the witness? If there isn't, then I would like to call an end to this cross-examination now."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"…I do have one more thing I'd like to have addressed," Sonic replied after recovering from his frustration and realizing that there was something off with the evidence at hand and the witness's testimony. "When I asked Mr. Eulb earlier as to how my client would've went about committing the murder, I understood that he was merely giving us his opinion on the matter. Nevertheless, I have to point out a small problem with the explanation that contradicts the evidence at hand!"

"And what exactly are you claiming is the witness's testimony contradicting?" Vector asked with an eyebrow raised at the sudden claim. "I'm failing to see exactly where you're planning on going with this, if it's even anywhere to begin with. Do you mind enlightening us as to what it is you supposedly just discovered?"

Without saying anything, the hedgehog picked up the Mobius Harbor Diagram and placed it under the overhead projector for all to see. He then used a red laser pointer to show the mark that Tails had made during the break.

"During the recess, I had my client mark on this diagram where he was standing on the night of the murder," he explained while circling the mark. "He said that he was standing around here waiting for whoever it was that called him to that specific location. It wasn't until after the murder happened did he move from that spot. You were there then, Mr. Eulb; is Mr. Prower correct in his statement on where he was at?"

"…That appears to be around the right area," Naeco responded after giving it a bit of thought while studying the red markings. "The emergency button is situated on the wall he's next to, so it'd make sense."

"Well, it's good to know that we're in agreement on this. You don't know how much easier this makes my job now."

"Can you please get on with whatever your line of logic is leading up to, amateur?" the crocodile asked as he was clearly starting to become frustrated. "As much as I am curious on what you're cooking up in that head of yours, you're starting to try my patience with your constant questions!"

"Like I said earlier, my questions help me in pointing out a contradiction with the witness's explanation of things. As such, I would like to quote him on something. '_Once he saw that the cargo container was over the man's head, all he'd have to do is push the button_.' By this statement alone, one would reasonably insinuate that Mr. Prower would've needed a pretty clear view of everything if he were to execute this plan perfectly."

"I don't think there's any room for dispute on that regard," the Judge admitted as he looked at the map in confusion. "However, I'm confused as to what you're getting at with this, Mr. Sonic. Can you please provide an explanation as to what this has to do with the Mobius Harbor Diagram?"

"Well, the witness has already said that the marker where my client said he was standing is accurate. And since there's no discrepancy in this regard, I can say without a doubt that it was impossible for my client to have killed the victim!"

"It's about time you finally got around to your main point," Vector responded without any kind of surprise in his voice. He simply covered both his ears and lightly bobbed his head to the music. "I can't say that it was an easy process waiting for you to just say that seeing as how you went skirting around it. At least now I know that you have absolutely nothing to go with your so-called contradiction."

"Are you sure there's nothing important on it?" Sonic asked with a sort of triumphant grin working its way onto his face. "Why don't you take a closer look? If you still don't see it, then try looking at the containers piled in-between the defendant and victim. With these things in the way, there's no humanly possible way that Mr. Prower could've made an accurate aim for Mr. O'Altraids from where he was standing!"

"And how can you come to that conclusion just by looking at this diagram?" the prosecutor merely asked with a small yawn. "It's true that it shows a bunch of containers between the two people. However, they could've been at a low enough level at the time that anybody would be able to see over them. You can't prove that it wasn't stacked up so high on that particular night."

"Then allow me to present a piece of supporting evidence showing that I'm right," the hedgehog added as he replaced the diagram with the Crime Scene Photo. "This photo was taken by the investigators sometime after the murder had been called in. I would assume then that the Mobius Harbor Diagram was created based on the layout of that evening. With that in mind, I'd like to direct your attention towards the background in this photograph. Do you notice how the containers are stacked up pretty high up?"

"Oh, no!" the crocodile exclaimed as he finally figured out the contradiction the defense attorney was bringing up.

"It sounds like you finally know where I'm going with this, Prosecutor Vector. With this in mind, there's no humanly possible way that my client would've been able to see the victim standing directly under the container when it came around. And even if he high enough to see over the containers, he'd most likely have missed his opportunity to press the button as I'm sure there's only a two-second window at best from the moment he sees it ready to drop to actually pressing the button."

"B-but he didn't need to see in order to just press the emergency button! He could've easily said something that would ensure that Mr. O'Altraids wouldn't move from that specific spot. You can't say that wasn't a possibility!"

"I'll admit that it's a possibility, but then I believe it's your job to prove it since you brought it up. So do you have anything to prove that my client just decided to randomly press the button under the impression that he knew beyond a doubt that the victim was simply standing still? Don't forget that this isn't like trying to shoot someone with a gun. He only had one chance to properly hit his mark; this plan had no room for mistakes! Because of this plan's complexity and the lack of sight from his spot near the button, I find it hard to believe that Mr. Prower was the one to have committed this murder!"

Upon making this statement, the entire courtroom began talking amongst themselves about the new revelation. Vector merely gritted his teeth and growled in frustration at having been thoroughly stymied by a complete rookie of the law. It was clear that he was unable to come up with a suitable counterargument nor could he adequately prove his own version of things was in fact the truth.

"Order in the court!" the Judge attempted to shout over the gallery while repeatedly banging his gavel. Once he managed to calm everybody down, he said, "The defense has made a very valid point here. Nobody could possibly see if the container was at its destination if they stood right next to the button. It's doubtful with the amount of planning that one would just randomly press the button and hope for the best. I'm also ready to concede the fact that even if the defendant were on high ground, he'd have lost his opportunity to commit the murder. It's highly improbable that the defendant pressed that button."

"But I don't believe that there's anything saying that he didn't do so," Naeco suggested after having been quiet during the past exchange. "I understand that the defense attorney brought up this contradiction based off what I said. However, let me remind you all that I was only stating my opinion in the matter. It's hardly a proven fact that the defendant did what I had speculated. It's still highly possible that the boy simply decided to blindly press the button after making such careful plans and seeing that he couldn't get around the sight problem. If that's so, then he simply just got lucky here."

"I couldn't have said it any better myself," Vector quickly agreed as he quickly regained his cocky attitude. "While you did raise a valid contradiction, it was merely on a statement that was meant as an opinion. I hardly find that as grounds to be casting doubt on your client's lack of participation in this, amateur!"

"I-I suppose you're right about that," Sonic begrudgingly admitted before pursing his lips in thought. "But whether or not this was an opinion isn't what's important! In fact, I think the next question I have for the witness is what we should be concentrating on."

"And what exactly is it you want me to talk about next?" the witness asked before loosely crossing his arms.

"Throughout this entire proceeding, we've been referring to this button as an emergency button," the hedgehog explained. "I would assume from this that there is another button that performs the same duties somewhere in that harbor."

"Well, you'd be right in that assumption. Apart from the emergency button, there's only one other button that can control the release mechanism on the crane. However, I really doubt that it has anything to do with this case. After all, the only one who was near any kind of button was the defendant."

"While that may be the truth, you have to admit that it casts a bit of a shadow in the prosecution's argument. Now that we know of the existence of another button that performs the same actions, I don't think there's anything stopping us from saying that somebody else is the true murderer. It's very possible that somebody was standing beside the second button and pressed it while my client was standing next to the emergency one."

"And I object to that, amateur," Vector stated with an amused chuckle. "Don't you think that you're jumping to conclusions with this so-called revelation? Even I had already figured out through the past cross-examination that there must've been another button that functioned in the same manner. However, that's beside the current point. There hasn't been any evidence presented that proves there was somebody standing beside this other button. You're clearly grasping at straws with this claim!"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with the prosecution on this regard," the Judge admitted as he shook his head in disappointment. "You don't seem to be doing a good job with keeping up your side of the argument in this, Mr. Sonic. Beside from that, I truly see no relations with the second button in this case."

"Th-then how about we have the witness give an explanation about it?" Sonic stuttered out as he tried to come up with a plausible counter-argument. "It might just be a dead-end for us, but to not take the time to look over the details just wouldn't be right. We should at least listen to some things regarding this other button!"

"And what would you like Mr. Eulb talk about next?" the prosecutor asked with irritation lacing his voice. "Just remember that what you suggest better have something to do with the case. I'm sure I also speak for the Judge on this that being random isn't going to make your current standing any better."

"Well…, we could have him talk about where the second button is and how accessible it is," the hedgehog suggested as he struggled to come up with a suitable line of attack. "We need to know if there somebody was able to gain access to it that night. At the least, it could prove the possibility of somebody else being the true culprit. We should hear about this before discrediting it as a waste of time."

"… … …It seems as though we're going to have to keep you here for a little longer, Mr. Eulb," the Judge stated after contemplating Sonic's suggestion for a few seconds. "If you don't mind, please testify to the court as to the whereabouts of this other button and how accessible it is to people at the harbor."

"If that's what you want," the witness said with an annoyed sigh. "To be honest, it sounds like just a waste of time."

"Believe me; you're not the only one feeling like that," the crocodile agreed with a frustrated sigh. "Nevertheless, please give your testimony so that we can finally appease the defense attorney's desperate attempts at trying to win."

_**The Second Switch**_

Well, there are two buttons that control the crane's grappling mechanism. The first is the one I saw the defendant standing next to. The second is located inside the main office. However, that switch is inaccessible to anybody who doesn't have the office key. Only the supervisor is allowed to have it, and I was the one chosen to be supervisor that night. However, the only chance I had to go in was after the murder happened. That was when I saw the defendant and kept watch over him until the police arrived.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"So the door can only be opened by someone who has the key to the office door?" the Judge asked as he tried to remember the important details. "Is it proper procedure to keep the doors locked like that?"

"It's to make sure that nothing gets stolen out of the office while it's unattended," Mr. Eulb responded with a nod of his head. "Apart from the occasional personal effects of some of the workers, we have some important pieces of machinery and documents that cannot afford to be stolen. It wouldn't look good on us if they suddenly went missing. We always strive for prevention on top of anything else."

"And incidentally, the witness had the office key on him when the police initially questioned him back on the scene," Vector added as he fiddled around with his headset cord, answering and unvoiced question that was in Sonic's mind. "That was to be expected since he was to be the next supervisor that evening."

"In other words, the chances of somebody having hidden themselves inside that office just before the murder is close to impossible," Sonic groaned as he started to worry about how the trial was starting to take a turn for the worse. He then said after clearing his throat in an attempt to sound confident, "Regardless, I'd still like to cross-examine the witness and see if there's anything new we can learn from it. You never know where we'll end up unearthing a new angle that we can look through."

"Of course," the old man replied with a nod. "I do hope, for your sake, that we do end up discovering something new in respects to this trial. Rookie or not, wasting the court's time with irrelevant topics will land you in big trouble."

"I can't wait to see what you're going to provide us for your next cross-examination performance, amateur," the crocodile stated sarcastically with a huff of his breath much to the attorney's irritation. "I'm sure it'll be one to remember."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"So you're saying that the other button that controls the crane is located inside the main office," Sonic repeated as he tried to come up with a question that did not sound random or a waste of time. "Can you tell us where exactly it's located inside? I don't think we've heard much in relations to the placement of things inside."

"If you would so kindly mark it on that diagram of yours," Naeco said, pointing at the white sheet that still held the image of the Mobius Harbor Diagram. "It was on the machines located along the northern wall. It's on a control panel, but it's clearly labeled from the rest so that there wouldn't be any confusion."

"Alright," the hedgehog murmured to himself as he made a mark with his red pen and labeled it "Main Crane Button". He then noticed that it was situated underneath a window that faced the same direction as where the victim was killed. That was when another question popped into his mind. "Is the main office a building that's on the same level as the ground, or is it elevated somewhat?"

"Objection!" Vector exclaimed before the witness had a chance to say anything. "This has nothing to do with your question about the button. This is just another one of your attempts at wasting the court's time," he added as he placed the headset over his ears again while smiling contentedly for no apparent reason. "I thought we already had our little talk about wasting the court's time with unrelated topics."

"This will be my only warning to you, Mr. Sonic," the Judge said in a threatening tone as he cast a glance that reflected the same sentiments. "If you continue to waste the court's time with questions that do not pertain to the topic at hand, I'll force an end to the cross-examination and announce my verdict based on your inadequate performance as a defense attorney. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Your Honor," the defense attorney answered with a forced smile. He then thought to himself, _I guess they aren't going to be tolerating anymore questions that has nothing to do with the current testimony. Oh, this just keeps getting harder and harder by the minute. I'll be amazed if I can still pull this off._

"How many keys are there in total that have the ability to open the office door?" he asked, hoping that he was not setting himself to be flagged down. "I don't believe you actually specified how many there were earlier."

"Oh, I thought I already did," Naeco innocently replied without so much as hesitating. "I guess it accidentally slipped my mind. Sorry about that.

"For security purposes, there are only two keys in existence that can open that door," he explained. "You already know that one of them was with me at the time; the second is with the owner of the harbor. However, he's been on vacation with his family since the start of last week. I was one of the few who saw him off at the airport, and he isn't scheduled to be back for another week. If he did decide to come back early for whatever reason, then his wife would never let him hear the end of it."

"Alright," the attorney simply said, feeling terribly constricted in what he could and could not say thanks to the Judge's threat hanging over his head and ready to chop him down to size. "And when the murder happened, I would assume that you used that key to unlock the door and go inside to call the police."

"Actually, I had went straight towards the spot of the crash and check if anybody was hurt. It was after that did I decide to run back to the office and call for help. Of course, that was after I noticed the fox inside. He's correct in saying that he was next to the phone, but I cannot vouch that he actually did call the police nor how long he was on it."

"Regardless, it was during this time that you managed to keep the defendant from leaving until the police arrived," the old man surmised. "Whether or not he is the true perpetrator in this, I thank you for making sure that he at least stayed at the scene. Witnesses are always key to solving closing heinous crimes such as this."

"…Hold on a second!" Sonic exclaimed as a thought suddenly appeared in his head. "Something about this doesn't sound right. I remember the witness stating earlier that the door to the main office was to be kept locked whenever there wasn't anybody inside in order to prevent things from being stolen. If that's the case, then how did my client managed to get inside the main office while it was devoid of people? With things the way they are now, it's practically impossible!"

"…As much as I'd like to raise an objection, I'm afraid I have to agree with the amateur," the crocodile begrudgingly admitted, clearly not willing to have concede defeat on that particular matter. "Even I can't help but to go against my own witness here. Can you please explain how the defendant managed to make his way into the office, Mr. Eulb?"

"…That's actually a very good question," the witness stated with the slightest bit of hesitancy in his words. "I don't really know how he managed to get inside." After spending a couple of seconds thinking on it, his face suddenly lit up in realization. "Oh, I think I remember now! I was in the process of unlocking the door and had just done so when the container fell. The shock of the moment must've made me forgot about locking it back. As such, anybody had the power to go in and out during that time."

"So you were in the process of unlocking the door just as the murder was taking place," the old man surmised after listening to the explanation. "You then forgot to lock it back up because of all the confusion. I suppose that would make sense considering everything that was going on then."

"And you stand firm on the fact that you entered the office only after you ran to the scene of the murder to see what was happening?" the hedgehog asked as he tried to gather as much information he could with his restricted questions.

"I can't see what I would gain from lying about something that's this small. But if it makes you feel better, then I'll repeat it once more: I only set foot in the office that night after everything had come to pass. Is that good enough for you, or would you like for me to get a notarized letter saying the same thing?"

"I assure you, that won't be necessary," Vector responded with his tongue making a clicking sound. He then looked at the defense attorney with a scowl, "Stop asking the witness to repeat himself every other second. He isn't a parrot that needs to be trained in stating certain sentences. That and it's getting annoying."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"I just wanted to make sure that the court was clear on the witness's line of thought, Prosecutor Vector," Sonic explained with a smile that was slowly growing. "The evidence clearly hasn't been doing us much good as of now. All we have to go on in order to form the foundation of the truth is the witness's own words. After all, it's the only way that I'll be able to catch him in the middle of a telling a lie. In fact, I believe I can say with full confidence that I've caught him in one just now!"

"Excuse me?" Naeco calmly asked despite having just been accused lying under oath. "I fail to see how you construed what I said to be a lie. The only time I had entered the office that night was after I ran back from the scene to call for help. That was when I saw the defendant already loitering around inside and kept him until the police arrived."

"I see that you're going to stand firm with that story," the hedgehog sighed before taking a piece of paper that had notes regarding the First Aid Kit he heard of earlier. "So let's say for the sake of argument that you really did enter the office when you did. If that's so, then how did the First Aid Kit make its way to the scene of the murder?_!_"

"Th-the what?" the man stuttered slightly as his eyes widened a fraction. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do. During the trial before you came to testify, I was led to believe that this could only be received from the office building. That's the only place in that harbor they can be located. And as we just discussed, that office door was locked with you having the only available key."

"And you're saying that by the witness's own testimony, only he could've had access to the First Aid Kit!" the Judge finished once he realized where this was going. He then said in a sterner tone, "What is the meaning of this, Mr. Eulb? Why would you lie about something as trivial as this?"

"Objection, Your Honor!" Vector quickly objected before the witness had a chance to explain. "This doesn't have anything to do with the current cross-examination. So what if Mr. Eulb was the only one who had access to that medical kit? I don't see how this proves anything in regards to the second switch!"

"That's because you're not looking hard enough," the defense attorney disagreed. "How do you think this medical kit made its way out to the scene of the murder? It was in a room that was to be kept locked at times when there wasn't anybody in the office, and there was only one person on this particular night who had access to that building. That would be our witness here. Since he's the only one who can enter that office freely, he's the only one who could've taken the kit out of there. Therefore, this is proof that he lied about having entered that office only once after the murder happened!"

"That's what you call proof of my witness lying?" the prosecutor asked with an amused scoff. "I'm afraid you're overlooking one other explanation of things. Don't forget that the defendant himself was also in that office where he was ultimately kept from leaving by our witness. He could've easily came by, took the bag out, and ran back to the scene of the crime under the guise as a Good Samaritan."

"That's an impossibility! If things really happened that way, then my client would've ran into the witness when he entered the office a second time. The witness already said earlier that he saw Mr. Prower running towards the fallen container before he followed suit. That would mean he had to have made two trips to the office if he did as you said.

"However, the witness has also testified that he went to check up on the accident before running back to the office," Sonic continued on. "He never once said anything about making a second trip back to the murder scene. I even gave him a chance to say something to that effect, but he stood firm in saying he went inside only once when the defendant was already there. Therefore, it's impossible that my client was the one to have transported that First Aid Kit out of that office. If he did, then the conditions regarding Mr. Prower's apprehension by Mr. Eulb would have been completely reversed! He would have come in sometime after the witness, and we already know that isn't the case!"

"Y-you little…!" the crocodile growled as he began scratching at his gold chain. It was clear that he had just been beaten in this war of words and was failing to find a suitable way to recover from it. The gallery started lightly talking amongst themselves about what they just heard. The Judge also seemed a bit lost in thought as he did not appear bothered by the slight discord that was taking place.

"…And what's keeping you from saying that I merely forgot about that little detail?" Naeco suddenly spoke up, his voice taking on a slight defensiveness to it. "I don't think I need to remind you just how hectic things were in the moments after that container fell. I could've easily forgotten about the fact that I ran in to take the First Aid Kit and brought it to the murder scene. In fact, that's exactly what I'm saying what happened; I forgot about having went in and taking that medical kit to where Jak was killed."

"Do you understand just how coincidentally convenient it all sounds right now?" the hedgehog countered as he stared daggers at the witness. "I just caught you in the middle of a contradiction, and you're now trying to create some form of an excuse. I dare say that you're now trying to play yourself off as a man who has a selective memory."

"But you can't say that I didn't simply make an honest mistake!" the man quickly bit back, clearly not willing to go down without a fight. "It's simply a part of human nature to forget all types of details. After all, I did forget about the fact that I left the office door unlocked. I will confess to that. I suppose I should give credit to the chaos that was the murder for making me forget more about that moment than I would've liked."

"And I guess I should give you credit for trying to cover up your blatant lies by telling us more of them. How about you try telling us the truth about what you really remember happening that night? I'm sure I speak for almost everyone in this courtroom in that we'd love to hear about these 'small details' you conveniently forgotten about."

"That's enough, Mr. Sonic!" the Judge exclaimed once he recovered from his stupor and banged his gavel to restore order. "This is a court of law, not a playground at an elementary school. While you're in this courtroom, you will present yourself as professionally as possible and conduct your cases in an orderly fashion. I suggest that you keep a check on both your tongue and attitude if you wish to further yourself into the career of law.

"However, I must agree with your skepticism in regards to the inconsistency in the witness's testimony," he quickly admitted before turning his attention to Naeco. "Mr. Eulb, I'm having trouble believing that you simply forgot about this particular detail concerning the First Aid Kit. Still, there isn't any evidence that suggests otherwise. As such, I'll allow you to testify once more so you can clear up any confusion regarding that particular moment. This time, make sure that you don't leave any details out."

"…Of course, Your Honor," the witness replied with a rather stiff nod. "I assure you, however, that what I left out was not done on purpose."

"I doubt the defense is going to be believing that anytime soon," Vector growled while adjusting his headphones. "Regardless, they managed to buy themselves some time with this. I'd love to see what other trivial matters they're going to exploit next."

"Exploitation is a bit of a strong word, Prosecutor Vector. I prefer calling it as pointing out the inconsistencies and using them to advance my case. I'm pretty sure you point such things out that you seem intent on calling as exploiting."

With another scoff of annoyance, the crocodile positioned his headphones over his ears as he waited for Naeco to get on with his new testimony.

_**The Forgotten Details**_

As I admitted earlier, I was the one who left the office door unlocked when I went to see what was happening. And as we've just discussed, I forgot about having taken the First Aid Kit myself. It's all still a blur, but I believe I ran inside to get it before heading to the murder scene. Like you already explained, it's impossible for the defendant to have taken it; I suppose that only leaves me who could've done it. I also remember making a call to the police after I entered the office a second time and made sure he had no way of escaping.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"And are you sure that this is everything you did that night?" Sonic asked, his skepticism clearly being vocalized. "There's nothing else that you forgot or purposefully left out because it would be to your benefit?"

"I see that you're not going to let me hear the end of this," Naeco sighed while shaking his head. "I promise you that this truly is everything that I remember about that night. However, I could also tell you about my trip to the bathroom and what I did in there if you believe that to be relevant."

_Ugh, nobody wants to hear about that!_ the hedgehog thought as his face contorted into disgust. _How can that ever be relevant to anything?_

"If you're so intent on trying to catch the witness in a lie, then why don't you hurry up and get on with your cross-examination?" Vector said with slight amusement at the other's reaction. "You already got him to testify about the menial details don't have any real bearing to the case. And I dare say you don't want him adding in things regarding his bathroom breaks as well unless you're secretly a pervert."

"Alright, that's enough jabs at one another," the Judge announced as he pound his gavel. "Let's just go ahead and get on with the cross-examination. I will say, however, that I agree with the prosecution in that these details seem trivial at best. I can't possibly see what the defense can obtain from this."

"Must you always show what little faith you have in my abilities, Your Honor?" the defense attorney groaned. "I know I'm a rookie, but shouldn't you be giving me more credit after what I've already done?"

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Anyway, I'm still having a hard time believing that you simply forgot about the fact that you were the one to have taken the First Aid Kit, Mr. Eulb," Sonic repeated as he ignored the prosecutor's earlier jab. "I mean, you clearly were the only one in the entire harbor who had access to it. And even if you did lose yourself during all the chaos and was working mainly on autopilot, you still would've come to the conclusion that you took it with you later on down the line. You simply forgetting is completely illogical!"

"And yet I still managed to forget about it until a few minutes ago when you brought it to our attention," Naeco replied with a shrug of his shoulders as if the problem he had presented was nothing more than a simple mistake. "I don't know how your particular mind works during moments of crisis, Mr. Sonic; not everybody is able to think as clearly as you would like for me to have done. I just happen to be one of those people who can't remember things well during times of absolute chaos."

"But what about the fact that you had the only key to the office on you?" the hedgehog fought back in an attempt to blow a hole in the testimony. "That should've been enough for you to put everything together!"

"He obviously wasn't in the correct state of mind to be that analytical," Vector responded as he mindlessly fiddled with his headset cord. "It's just like the witness already explained; not everybody is able to discern the obvious either during or after a catastrophic incident such as this. We should consider ourselves lucky that he's managed to remember this much and testify to us about it. As such, I ask that you stop harassing the witness on this and move on to whatever else you want to ask of him."

"Fine," the defense attorney quickly submitted from his question that he begrudgingly admitted was nothing more than harassment. "There's something else I find to be of better interest, anyway. Do you remember seeing or hearing anything during your trek to and from the crime scene? Was there anything strange or out of place during those moments? I understand you said that everything then was blurred together, but I'd like you to try remembering even the smallest of details."

"…I'm afraid that nothing worth mentioning happened," the witness stated after thinking on it for a moment. "There were a couple of dock workers who ran past me towards the same direction, but everything else apart from what I just testified is a complete blur. My body was pretty much running on autopilot. It wasn't until I thought about calling the police did I regain my senses. I don't even remember the defendant having passed by me, but he must have if he managed to beat me back to the office."

"And that was when you said you found and kept him from leaving until you saw the police arriving," the Judge completed. "If you don't mind me asking, around what time was it when you made that call? I don't believe we've heard on that regard."

"Oh, now that's something I can definitely remember. I made the call to the police a little before nine. The harbor whistle always goes off every hour, so we use it as a makeshift clock of sorts. That's how I can be so sure on this. I distinctively remember hearing it go off right after I hung up."

"And in case you're planning on trying to dispute the call, I have a copy of the Phone Records of all calls made from the Mobius Harbor to the police that night," the prosecutor quickly spoke up as he took a piece of paper and showed it to the court. "If you'll all look closely at this record, you'll notice that only one call was made from the harbor to the police on the night in question. I believe this should help prove to the defendant that Mr. Eulb is in fact telling the truth on this."

When Sonic quickly skimmed through the Phone Records, he noticed a single line of numbers highlighted in yellow. It indicated a single call being logged from the Mobius Harbor at around the time the murder took place.

"So you ran back to the office in an attempt to get some help for the victim," Sonic surmised as he tried to keep his meager offensive movement going. "Did you do anything else while you were in there?"

"Nothing more apart from making sure the defendant didn't decide to disappear on me," Naeco replied with a shrug. "A couple of my coworkers came by wondering what was going on and if we should call the police. I had them set up a makeshift perimeter around the crime scene until the authorities showed up."

"If I might be allowed to say; I'm starting to tire of listening to this cross-examination," the crocodile interrupted. "To be perfectly frank, I find this to be nothing more than a waste of time. The only new thing you managed to unearth was that the witness made a call to the police right after this incident occurred. And let's not forget that you didn't seem to be able to follow up on your so-called contradiction with the First Aid Kit."

_Damn, Vector's right about that!_ Sonic thought as he kept a stoic exterior. _I knew the First Aid Kit was going to be a long shot, but I didn't think it'd lead me to more trouble. I can't find a single thing wrong here!_

"…Does the defense have anything else they wish to ask the witness?" the old man asked after noticing the silence that enshrouded the courtroom. It was clear by his tone he was starting to wonder if there was any point in further continuing the cross-examination. "I'm afraid just thinking to yourself isn't going to be procuring any results."

"It appears as though he's finally run out of gas," the witness stated with an oddly cocky smile. "I believe their silence is proof enough that what I testified to was nothing more than the truth. Just because I merely forgot a few details doesn't mean I was purposefully trying to leave something out. In fact, they just helped prove I was doing everything in my power to save Jak by taking the initiative and calling the police. I understand that the defendant told you at one point that he was the one to have made that call, but it should be clear now he's simply lying in order to portray himself as a mere bystander."

_…Wait a minute!_ the hedgehog thought as he suddenly remembered something. He then began properly reading through the Phone Records in search of that one detail that he felt would help supplement is current line of thought. Once he discovered it, he began grinning like an idiot that caught the attention of both Vector and the Judge.

"Is there something you find amusing about all this, Mr. Sonic?" the Judge asked with a raised eyebrow. "Especially for someone in your position, I fail to find anything that's worth smiling over."

"Perhaps he's finally realized he can't gain anything more from this," Vector huffed while giving off a triumphant smile. "Either that or he's cracked under the pressure of trying to prove me wrong. Not that it matters much to me since both possible reactions signifies that he's finally conceded defeat."

"It's about time he's seen how wrong he was. To be honest, I'm starting to get tired standing here testifying to you all. If there's nothing else that you'd like to ask of me; I'd like to leave now. I've got a lot of work that needs to be done, not to mention the report I now have to fill regarding all this."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Before you leave, I have one more question I'd like for you to answer," Sonic stated as he finally found the contradiction he needed to sway things into his favor. "Are you sure that you made the call to the police a little before nine?"

"…I'm not even going to bother repeating myself on this," Naeco deadpanned before performing a face-palm. "With the amount of times you made me repeat myself today; I could easily mistake you for a deaf person!"

"Oh, I heard you loud and clear the first time around. I just wanted to give you the chance to make any amendments before we continue on. Don't want a repeat of what happened during the last cross-examination."

"What are you trying to get at, amateur?" Vector irritably snapped. "I'm not in the mood for any more of your ridiculous nonsense!"

"I don't think you'll find it ridiculous once I show you this!" the hedgehog exclaimed as he placed the Phone Records onto the projector for all to see. Mr. Eulb, you claimed to have made the call to the police just before nine. However, the Phone Records that the prosecution has just submitted directly contradicts that statement! According to this, a single call was made to the police _after_ nine! What do you have to say about that?"

"B-but that's impossible!" the witness stuttered as he stared at the document. Even the crocodile seemed shocked at this revelation, most likely because it was his own evidence being used against him in for the basis of this contradiction. "I remember making that call myself before nine! The sound of that whistle going off was burned into my mind! Are you sure there isn't a typo on that report?"

"I doubt that Prosecutor Vector would've presented it to us if he thought it contained a flaw of sorts. That means everything on here is as correct as it can be! On the other hand, what you've just testified to is the complete opposite.

"You were quite adamant this entire time that you were in the main office before the whistle went off. I'll admit that it's most likely the truth due to the fact the First Aid Kit is sitting at the scene of the crime. The question we should ask ourselves now is why there isn't a phone call registered before nine? It's clear you didn't make the call when you first went inside to take the medical kit, so when exactly did you do it?"

"Uh, well… I-I'm not sure about… I mean, I think I…! Grrr!"

"Will the witness please answer the question?" the Judge commanded, ignoring the sound of frustration and eager to hear what the explanation was. "When exactly that evening did you put in a call to the police?"

Instead of supplying the court with an answer, Naeco kept quiet as though he were afraid to say something wrong. It was clear that he had no plausible excuse and was desperately trying to fish around for one.

"If you're not going to give us an answer, then I'll go ahead and make it for you," Sonic calmly stated. "I'm sure it's clear to us all that you weren't the one who called the police. Your current reaction alone is enough to tell us that much."

"Then who are you saying made that call?" Vector asked, his headset now lying along his neck as his facial expression turned into complete seriousness. "Someone had to have done it during all the confusion."

"Well, I believe our answer lies in the first piece of testimony my client gave at the start of this trial. I'm sure you remember what Mr. Prower testified to earlier today about what he remembered seeing and doing that night?"

"I believe he said something about running towards the crime scene when the container fell," the Judge stated as he looked at a piece of paper handed to him by the bailiff that was most likely the court transcript. "After spending a few moments there, he ran back to the office in order to call the police. Oh!"

"And that's exactly what happened, Your Honor!" the hedgehog concluded. "While it was true that Mr. Eulb entered the office before nine, he only did so in order to get the First Aid Kit. After that, he was on his way to the crime scene where he most likely heard the whistle going off! With him now away from the office, my client is the only one left who could've called the police _after_ it was past nine. And since the door was left unlocked, he was in more than a comfortable position to do so."

"Objection!" the prosecutor loudly exclaimed as he slammed a fist against the table. "You think that you can turn the case in your favor with a pitiful story like that? So what if the witness wasn't the one who called the police? It doesn't matter in the slightest! Everybody was going crazy at the time. The confusion could've easily tricked his mind into believing something that didn't happen. He's already testified to us about details he forgotten about; I wouldn't put it past him to have remembered something that didn't happen due to the same event."

"Wow, your explanation of things can't possibly be the truth. I'm ready to admit that he probably did forget about certain details when he first testified to us. However, it's not starting to seem more like a pattern apart from simple forgetfulness. And don't forget how he reacted when we caught him lying about calling the police. You can't say that reaction was induced by him suddenly remembering something.

"But better yet, do you have any proof that Mr. Eulb merely forgot about another key detail?" the defense attorney asked. "You were the one who brought up the objection; it's on your shoulders to justify your claim! Do you have anything along those lines?"

"…Damn!" he cursed after hearing his explanation get shot down with no hopes of recovery.

At this point, the audience began talking amongst themselves once more. The Judge was busy pounding away at his gavel in an effort restore order to the courtroom. He even had to threaten to kick everybody out if things did not calm down. It apparently worked as everybody quieted down once more.

"Mr. Sonic, why would the witness lie about this?" he asked as he glared daggers at Naeco who was now biting his bottom lip in frustration. "From what I've gathered during his testimony, he doesn't have any reason to lie on this."

"I think that there's a simple answer to this, Your Honor. He's clearly trying to hide something from us. Why else would he go through all this trouble to 'conveniently' forget key details and add in bits that never took place?"

"So now you're saying I've something to hide?" Naeco loudly asked, his face twisted into a snarl and his voice sounding somewhat strained. "Hah, I never heard of anything as crazy as that in my life! Just what in the world could I benefit from lying that I would risk landing myself in hot water with the court?"

"I don't know the answer to that now, but I intend to figure it out before you leave the stand! I'm sure that any person trained to be a supervisor would immediately call the police if an incident like last night were to occur. There shouldn't be any reason for you not to call as I'm sure it's proper procedure to do so. The only thing I can come up with is that you somehow already knew what was happening before you went into the office."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Vector asked in frustrated confusion. "Are you saying Mr. Eulb knew that the cargo container was going to fall and that Mr. O'Altraids was going to be the unfortunate victim? How exactly do you plan on proving that without going to say that our witness is a clairvoyant?"

"Before I go about proving it, there's something that I would first like to have clarified," Sonic calmly stated. "Mr. Eulb, did you tell us earlier that you were the one to fix a broken fuse earlier that evening?"

"That's exactly what I said!" Naeco angrily replied as he tried to stare daggers at Sonic. Needless to say, he was beginning to seem desperate.

"And Prosecutor Vector, you said that you had a sworn affidavit from every worker that were on duty that night saying that they saw the lights turn back on in that darkened area of the harbor. I believe you made a show of it during my client's testimony."

"Don't tell me you're going that far back into this case," the crocodile said in disbelief as he placed his headset over his ears. "What does delving into the past have anything to do with the witness lying about calling the police?"

"It has everything to do with it provided that we look at things from a slightly different perspective," the hedgehog explained as he tried to ignore the death glares he was getting. "You say that everybody swore to the fact that they saw the lights turn back on. Since the affidavit is in your hands, do you think you can tell me if the victim's name is on it?"

"Do I even need to answer that? The victim's name can't possibly be on this piece of notarized crap! It was created _after_ he was killed!"

"Then how can we know for sure that Mr. Eulb was the one who fixed the fuse box? We have the witness here claiming he did it himself and the victim whom we know nothing about in terms of his movements on that particular night."

"Mr. Sonic," the Judge immediately cut in so as to put a stop to the exchange. "I'm afraid that you have completely lost me on this. Do you mind explaining fully just what it is you're getting at?"

"I'm sorry, Your Honor," Sonic apologized as he tried to hurry along his explanation. "What I'm trying to say is that Mr. Eulb might have been lying about where he said he was before the accident. He claimed that he was out making repairs to a broken fuse box, but what's stopping us to say that it wasn't in fact Mr. O'Altraids who did the repairs himself? And if that really was the case, then his death would only serve to benefit our witness here in the creation of his alibi! After all, there isn't anybody left alive who can say anything different."

"Oh, you got to be kidding me!" the witness exclaimed as he all but exploded in anger. "You're saying that I was somewhere else in the minutes leading up to the murder rather than coming back from fixing a damned fuse box? Do you have any evidence to say that that's what happened here? I'll bet my entire year's pay that you don't have anything like that! You're just trying to bluff your way through like you've been doing this whole time. This proves that you're nothing but a third-rate rookie who doesn't know what he's doing!"

"...Who was it that held the position of supervisor before you?" the hedgehog simply asked as he ignored the anger-fueled insults.

"Jak had that post before me, but what does...!" The man quickly trailed off as he seemed to notice what he just said.

"That's what I figured on. If Jak was the one acting as the supervisor before you, then you must have met with him sometime before his death. There's no other explanation as to how the office key came to be in your possession. And since there's no evidence showing that you were really coming back from a repair job, I'm inclined to believe that you were somewhere else entirely. With the key now with you unbeknownst to everybody else as well as having them fooled into thinking you were replacing a faulty fuse on top of the First Aid Kit at the murder scene, there's only one place you could've been. Naturally, I'm saying that you were inside the main office before and during the time of the murder!"

"Objection, Your Honor!" Vector exclaimed as he tore his headset off his head in frustration and threw them onto the table. "The defense has hardly used any evidence to substantiate this outrageous claim! So what if the witness had the key earlier than it was expected for him? You can't just go about saying that he was hiding out in the main office without first proving to us a plausible reason he would have for doing so. Without it, nothing you've said makes any sense!"

"As much as I don't agree with the prosecution's tone, I must side with him on this point," the Judge agreed. "It seems quite farfetched to think that Mr. Eulb would do as you had suggested, Mr. Sonic. While we have firmly established that he did have the key on him during the time when it was still to be with Mr. O'Altraids, you have yet to provide the court with any evidence that supports your claim. Do you have anything that shows the witness was inside the office at the time of the murder?"

For a couple of seconds, Sonic was quiet as he mulled over all the details he had heard throughout the course of the trial. While he admitted that he did not have any evidence to show his version of Naeco's actions that night was the truth, he was not about to say that out loud. Doing so was just as bad as admitting defeat! He needed another way to go about this, some way that did not involve the use of direct evidence yet something that could easily be connected with what they had on them.

"…The door to the main office was locked," he suddenly spoke up, confusing everybody in the courtroom in the process. "My client had stated as such during his testimony earlier. Nobody answered when he knocked on the door. That was to be expected seeing how the victim was already further into the harbor unknowingly waiting for his death. And we've already showed that it would've been impossible for my client to have killed the victim from where he was standing due to the lack of a visual field. By process of elimination, that only one other place where the murder could've happened. From this, we'll be able to see where the real killer was at just before the cargo container fell."

"The real killer?" the crocodile repeated, staring at the hedgehog with unreadable eyes. His face then suddenly seem to be awash with realization as he shifted his gaze over towards the witness who now had his hands balled into tight fists. "Are you saying that…that the man who's testifying before us right now is…?"

"I see you finally caught on to what I'm thinking, Prosecutor Vector," the hedgehog responded with a smirk on his face. "With all the evidence we've scrutinized combined with the testimony that has been heard, he's the only person who's had the chance to be inside the office at the time the murder happened. And since that's where the second switch is located, I think my reasoning here is more than sound. As such, I'm formally indicting Mr. Eulb for the murder of Mr. Jak O'Altraids!"

"You… You WHAT?_?_?_!_!_!_!_!_" Naeco shouted, his shock at being accused causing him to nearly fall over in shock. This also caused the gallery to talk loudly amongst themselves. The Judge had to repeatedly pound at his gavel to try and quell the uproar. He almost had to suspend the trial for a few minutes when they were taking far too long to calm, but that thankfully did not have to happen.

"Mr. Sonic, are you absolutely sure about what you're saying?_!_" he sternly asked while casting a gravely serious gaze at the hedgehog. "Indicting someone of murder, much less one of our witnesses, is not to be taken lightly!"

"I'm as sure as I'll ever be, Your Honor!" the defense attorney calmly replied as he tried not to panic from the immense change in atmosphere. "Allow me to explain what I believed happened in the moments leading up to the murder.

"Mr. Eulb made his way to the main office early where the victim, Mr. O'Altraids, was most likely located. After exchanging words for some time, they soon agree to switch places earlier than expected. This leaves our witness with the office key and free access to everything in that room. This is most likely when the victim then agreed to go ahead and take care of the broken fuse box despite not having been assigned to it. It's clear that he completed this job as we have a sworn affidavit from all the employees working at the time saying they saw the lights suddenly turn on a little before the murder.

"After taking care of the repairs, the victim heads off to the area where he is later killed by the cargo container. While I have no evidence showing why he was even there, I have reason to believe that it was Mr. Eulb who said something to him about meeting there after the repairs were complete. Unbeknownst to Mr. O'Altraids, the witness was watching his every move from his position inside the office. Even though he'd most likely hid himself from the windows, he took added precautions and locked the door to prevent anyone from walking in and seeing that he was inside. Once he saw that the victim and the container were at their correct position, he pressed the switch. What happened after that has already been discussed through testimonies and cross-examinations."

"Are you sure you properly passed the bar exam?" Vector asked once Sonic was done with his explanation. His hands were wrapped around his chain so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "Your explanation is the most farfetched thing I've ever heard! Let's say for argument's sake that you're right about this. How the hell could Mr. Eulb know whether or not the container was directly over Mr. O'Altraids's head? You've already proven that it would've been impossible for your client to have seen anything from his position. Are you going to claim next that our witness has x-ray vision?"

"I believe I have an answer that's a little less…impossible than what you've just suggested. Why don't you take another look at the Crime Scene Photo and tell me what it is you see _in the background_?"

"In the background?" the crocodile mumbled as he took a look at the picture put up onto the white sheet. What he saw caused him to pale a bit. "W-wait a minute! You're not saying that…?"

"And that's my answer to your question. In the background is a building with the word 'OFFICE' written on top. And just below those words is a set of windows with a bird's-eye view of where the victim was standing! Because of this, I deem that it was more than possible for Mr. Eulb to have known when to release the container at the right time! All he had to do was sneak a quick glance to see if everything was in place. What do you have to say about everything I've said thus far, Mr. Eulb?"

"…I say that you managed to cook up a rather interesting story in such a short amount of time," Naeco responded through gritted teeth as his eye was twitching a bit from the frustration he was no doubt feeling. "But that's all it is at the end of the day. All you have to support this is the fact that I had the office key on me earlier than I was supposed to. Where's your concrete evidence that I was indeed hiding out in the office, attorney? Considering that it was even touched that evening, what's there proving that I was the one to pressed the second switch? I've yet to hear anything explaining all that!"

"And yet everything I've managed to prove up to this point just so happens to place you in the middle of all this. You had access to where the second switch was located; you also had both the time and vantage point to commit this murder. Are you really going to try and say that this is another one of those many coincidences that happen to put you under the spotlight? I doubt that even the members of the gallery would believe that at this point. You're now just lying in an attempt to cover up the mistakes you've made today!"

"Objection, Your Honor!" the prosecutor loudly exclaimed in an attempt to lessen the assault upon his witness. "The defense has done nothing but use baseless conjecture to form an equally baseless accusation! Without any harden evidence proving his argument, this is all amounting to nothing more than harassment!"

"I'm warning you, Mr. Sonic," the Judge warned as he cast the defense attorney a stern glare. "You're treading on dangerously thin ice with this subject. Unless you can show the court some evidence proving that the witness indeed pressed that switch, I'm afraid that you'll have to pull back your indictment."

For a moment, Sonic stood silent as he looked over the evidence and profiles of people sitting right in front of him. This was his moment to prove that the person standing right in front of them was the person who pushed that button. This was his chance to show that Tails never pushed any button, regardless whether or not he could see the victim from his position. This was his one chance to make everything right.

"Very well, if it's proof that you all want, then I'll happily show you what I've got with me," the hedgehog responded with a smile on his face, although it was really just a bluff in an attempt to by some more time. He then said as if to put more drama to everything, "I'll really have to thank the victim for passing this onto me when I get the chance."

"And what does the victim have anything to do with proving the witness pushed that switch?" Vector asked, clearly picking up on the defense attorney's hesitation and regaining some of his previous composure.

"Umm," he stuttered as he tried to stall a bit to find something that would be able to back up his rather stupidly announced bluff. As he carefully considered all the evidence in front of him, he soon came across something interesting. It was not much of a lead to go on, but it was the best he could do at this point. "Well, like I said before," he said with a smile on his face, "I'll have to thank the victim for giving me the key piece of evidence I need. And by that, I mean this note he wrote out."

"That piece of paper again?" the crocodile asked exasperatedly as he slouched over a bit. "I thought we were already clear on the fact that that's nothing but a piece of useless trash! Just what is it going to prove?"

"In response to what you were objecting to earlier, this note is going to be the hardened piece of evidence proving my claims to be the truth. As of now, all of you are probably only seeing the message written on this. However, we'll all need to see past the words if we're to see the hidden truth within it."

"And what exactly do the words 'Blue Ocean' have to do with me?" Naeco asked in a belligerent manner, although his face showed that he seemingly knew what Sonic was trying to get at. "If Jak really was the one who wrote that message, then only he'll know what it means. To us, it's nothing more than baseless gibberish from a dying man."

"I'm sure no one in this court has taken notice of this before, but you have a rather interesting name with equally interesting spelling," the defense attorney stated as he placed the profile of the witness and the Victim's Note on the overhead projector at his table side by side. "Naeco Eulb. Even you must admit to the fact that you don't run into a name of this particular spelling and caliber every day."

"And what exactly does his name have anything to do with the Victim's Note?" the Judge asked with raised eyebrows as he stared at the two pieces of paper. "I don't see how you can make any kind of connection with this."

"You're not alone in that sentiment, Your Honor. Then again, he's done this more than once and somehow managed to get a valid point across." Strangely enough, Vector's voice appeared to have the slightest hints of excitement and curiosity in his tone, something that had not been heard since the beginning of the trial. "Do you mind giving us a quick rundown of what's going on in that head of yours, amateur?"

"Well, if you would all take the time to spell out that phrase backwards, I'm sure you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Do so and you'll finally see the truth that's been cleverly hidden within."

"…And you managed to surprise us yet again," the crocodile actually complimented, although he still held a sense of skepticism in terms of Sonic's line of thought. "I'll admit that seeing things this way makes it seem interesting, but how can you say that this is actually a legit message from the victim?"

"What are you trying to get at, Prosecutor Vector?" the old man asked as he tried to figure out the meaning of the message for himself. After spending a few more seconds studying the note, he finally discovered what had made the crocodile excited and became surprised himself. "Why, the victim's name spelled backwards is exactly the same as the note the victim left us, blue ocean!"

"Under the current scope of things, I doubt this can hardly be considered a coincidence," Sonic simply explained. "As Mr. O'Altraids was dying, he must've been able to figure out that the container falling on him wasn't just some random accident. Putting together everything that happened before that, he clearly came to the conclusion that Mr. Eulb was the one to have done this. And having obviously figured out the intricacies concerning the witness's name, he wrote out the words 'blue ocean' and passed it on to the first person that came by. As we've already heard, that ended up being my client.

"So with his dying breath, the victim wrote out the name of who he thought killed him and hoped that somebody would be able to find it," he concluded as he watched the witness looking really uncomfortable. "With all the evidence we've fully examined, I'd say he hit it right on the nose. Seeing how your name backwards created the phrase, he wrote it backwards in hopes that you will just see it as gibberish if it somehow came into your possession. While I'll admit that I don't have any evidence showing why he would want to implicate you, the fact that this even exists shows whatever it is to be the truth!"

"B-but you can't just say that you know for sure Jak wrote that damn note!" Naeco stuttered as he tried to feebly defend himself from this accusation. "For all we know, that stupid kid could've written it in an attempt to throw you all off the track."

"That's impossible, Mr. Eulb," Vector surprisingly countered his own witness in a calm voice. "There was never any mention of blood being found on Mr. Prowers's person when he was initially apprehended. Even if we were to disregard that and say he indeed wrote the phrase, it would still be impossible. By your testimony alone, there was only a couple of minutes from when you went to see what was happening to keeping my client from leaving the main office. Under such conditions, he never would've had the time to wash his hands or properly dispose of any soiled pieces of clothing. There also isn't any evidence suggesting that he threw anything away. As such, this note was legitimately written by the victim's own hand! What do you have to say about this?"

"…Answer the question, Mr. Eulb," the Judge insisted after a few seconds of silence, his tone seemingly indicating that he was now accepting Sonic's view of things on the current topic. Said hedgehog was currently staring at the prosecutor in shock over what had just happened. "The defense has posed a valid concern that's been backed by the prosecution. Do you have anything else to say that can possibly express your innocence in all this?"

"… … …I don't," the witness finally replied after a long silence, his shoulders slumping in apparent defeat. "Even though this was the defense attorney's first case, he's done a good job keeping his end of this trial intact. I probably would've been able to keep myself from his prying suspicions if I didn't make all those rookie mistakes."

"I suppose that we can take this as a confession then?" the crocodile asked as he hardly seemed phased by the sudden change in attitude.

"I don't see what else I can do now that I've been exposed. Everything that the defense has managed to point out has been the truth. I was the one to have killed Jak. If only he learned to keep his nose out of my business."

"It sounds like we're getting to your motive now. Mind going into detail with it? You've already admitted to this much; you might as well come clean."

"…Working at the Mobius Harbor granted me certain privileges that worked in tangent with my true line of work. Using the guise as a dock worker as a front, I smuggle off priceless goods off any ships that come by. You might believe it to be hard with so many others around me, but security is lax and thus makes it all too painfully easy. The risks were low and yielded a rather healthy payout when put through the correct crowd.

"Unfortunately, Jak caught me one day as I was stowing some stolen goods in one of my secret caches," Naeco continued on as he allowed a seething scowl appear on his face upon mention of the victim's name. "As he was supposed to have done, he immediately confronted me about it. He then decided to just let me go so long as I didn't try taking out the big ticket items. I would've been fine with his 'warning' if he didn't later go so far as to threaten me into giving him a cut of whatever amount of money I get for the job. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have even considered wanting him dead."

"And it was because of his attempts at blackmailing you did you begin hatching this crazy plan to kill him," Sonic concluded once he had heard enough to formulate the motive. "That's when you went and called the defendant in order to lure him out to the harbor in hopes of having him take the fall."

"That's right. I've heard of him through the newspapers and learned that he had an exceptionally excelled mind. Feeling confident that such a well-known person might be gullible, I managed to get the kid to the harbor and in a position where he could easily be blamed for this. I'll admit that certain things could've been better executed, but it was an overall good plan. I never expected the defense to be so talented on this…"

"…It sounds like we've finally wrapped up all the loose ends," Sonic spoke after the explanation was completed. "But there's still one thing I don't understand. Why did you choose Mr. Prower to be your fallout guy? In the scope of things, any one of your fellow coworkers would've better suited to frame."

"Sorry, but there are some things about this that I'd rather keep to myself," Naeco cryptically responded much to the hedgehog's dislike. "Just because you won doesn't mean I'm obligated to tell you everything that went through my head. You already proved that I did it, and I already provided you all with my motive as to why I did it. I don't think I'm obligated to answer anything else that you're curious to know at this point. But let me give you something to think on for after this is officially over; nothing is ever as it seems. Some things are simply meant to be a part of a larger picture."

"What are you talking about, Mr. Eulb?" the defense attorney asked but only received silence as an answer.

"It seems like he's now enacting his right to remain silent," the Judge took note before slamming down his gavel. "Bailiff, if you would please escort the witness to his cell. I believe it's appropriate to arrest him under current circumstances.

"I must admit, I've never seen a defense attorney put up such a spirited fight," he added as the two men were leaving the courtroom. "For you first case, you sure made quite the impression. What an exceptional performance today, Mr. Sonic."

"Humph, I suppose there is more to you than what meets the eye," Vector replied as he rested his headset along the back of his neck. "You may progress things slow, but you're definitely not a fluke. It may sound crazy coming from me, but I'm honestly expecting some great things from you."

"If you don't mind, Prosecutor Vector, could you please continue on with your praise outside? I would like to call and end to this trial now. After observing all the evidence and deliberating over the given testimony, I'm ready to render a verdict.

"The court finds the defendant, Mr. Miles Prower, not guilty in the murder of Mr. Jak O'Altraids," the Judge announced before banging his gavel one last time so as to officiate his ruling. "With this ruling comes the end of this trial. Court is now adjourned!"

Giving his gavel one final pound, the Judge officially put an end to the case before getting up from his chair. As soon as he did so, everybody else got up and began filing out of the courtroom, including the two attorneys and the defendant.

"Wow, you were really great in there, Sonic!" Tails happily exclaimed once they were out in the lobby. He was practically grinning from ear to ear and looked ready to go on an excited high. "I knew that you would be able to get me out of that mess!"

"Nice to know that you already had so much confidence in me from the beginning," Sonic admitted with a huge sigh as he immediately dropped his professional front and switched back to his laid back style. He had the manila folder filled with the evidence and profiles he used in court held tightly in his hands. "To be honest, there were a couple of points during the trial where I thought I wasn't going to be able to keep up my end of the case. You'd think that I was the one on trial with all the pressure they put on me. I never thought it'd be that hard just to get one simple point across to both the prosecutor and Judge. That croc definitely isn't somebody to take for granted when facing off against him."

"I wasn't really that bad in there, was I?" a voice suddenly cut into the conversation. Surprised, both turned around and saw the prosecutor standing behind them with a smile on his face, his left hand gripping at his folder of evidence.

"P-Prosecutor Vector!" the hedgehog stuttered when he saw him standing less than three feet in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I figured I come around and congratulate you on your first career win," Vector replied as he patted the hedgehog on the shoulder. "It's not every day I get my butt whooped by somebody's first day in court."

"Uh, thanks," the defense attorney said with a confused look on his face as Tails stood by with a small smile on his face. "I can't say that I did as good a job as you, though. You were on the ball with everything I said that didn't make any sense."

"Even so, you managed to bounce back and use what I said in order to help you come up with a new line of attack. And being that this was your first case, you really picked up on things quickly. You definitely earned my respects.

"And sorry kid for pressing the thought that you went and killed the victim," he apologized as he fixed his gaze on the fox. "I was just doing my job as a prosecutor hired by the state to preside over this case. Unless I had strong evidence that allowed me to doubt your involvement, I wasn't able to change my position as I did towards the end of the trial."

"I'm not putting it against you," Tails responded in an understanding tone. "You were just trying to do your job. It's not like you had some personal score to settle. Perhaps one of these days when we all have time, we should get together. I don't think we can really consider each other as enemies after reconciling like this."

"Sounds like a great idea!" the prosecutor happily said. "I've no idea when I'm free for a get-together, but I'll call you as soon as I know. And since you're working with Dr. Robotnik, I already know your number. I don't know how many times I've had to call him on work-related instances; I've practically have the number memorized now."

"Uh, I don't think he'd like it if you used the company phone for casual calls," Sonic said. "He already told me how serious he was against it. Perhaps it'll be better if I just gave you my cell phone number. It'll save us both the trouble."

"Yeah, that definitely sounds a lot better. You'll have to give it to me later, though. I need to file the last of the papers regarding this case. Even though I lost, I still need to file it away so that the Prosecutor's Office will know it's officially closed.

"And I'm just throwing it out here, but feel free to come to me if you need any help or advice," Vector added as he began making his way towards the exit. "There's bound to be things you might run into that you don't understand, so I'll be happy to help you in whatever way I can. You two take care now!"

"…That was certainly the most interesting conversation I ever had," the hedgehog mumbled as he watched the crocodile's retreating form disappear behind a corner. "I never thought that I'd make a friend with someone on the prosecution side."

"Well, the two of you are pretty much coworkers in the sense that you're both working with the court," the young fox shrugged as he began tugging at the hedgehog's arm and pulling him towards the exit. "It makes sense that you'd both end up getting along at some point in your career. And think of it this way; at least you now have insider information to prosecutorial information should you ever need it.

"Now how about we get out of here and find something to eat?" he added before placing a hand on his stomach. "I haven't had the chance to eat anything since breakfast this morning, and the stuff they serve in prison isn't all that good."

"Then let's make this a memorable celebratory meal!" the other excitedly replied as he followed Tails out of the courtroom in search of a well-deserved meal.

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Mobius Harbor Diagram: Shows the basic layout of the harbor from a bird's eye view. Has been marked by Tails with red indicating where he was standing before the accident occurred. Shows huge piles of crates obscuring the view between where he was standing and where the victim was killed.

Phone Records: A list of calls that were made from the Mobius Harbor Office phone. Only one call was reported being made to the police at the time the murder occurred. The registered time stamp for the call was just a couple minutes after nine.

**New Profiles:**

Naeco Eulb: A witness to the murder. A twenty-two year old man who works at Mobius Harbor as a cargo loader and head of security. Claims to have seen Tails hanging out outside the main office building a few seconds before the murder occurred.

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><p>Thanks everybody for reading this story. I hoped that you all liked how this first case ended up. Please don't forget to leave a review before you leave. Until the next update everybody!<p> 


	3. Under the Midnight Moon Pt 1

Hello everybody! Here is the start of the second case for the rookie attorney Sonic Hedgehog. What kind of problems is he going to face in the second case of his career? You'll just have to read on to figure things out.

Sorry to those who thought the last case kind of had an "interesting" end to it. I kind of dug my own grave by not creating a lot of evidence to really prove anything. And the first case is supposed to be the easiest. At least I managed to solve it by creating questions that created circumstantial evidence that then led to the key question that proved the guy's guilt. I'll give the guys who write those Phoenix Wright games a lot of credit. It must take a lot to make evidence that works with the testimony while not contradicting themselves unless they're specified to do so.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy the introduction to the second case. Once again, any and all new evidence and profiles will be posted at the end of the story. Any evidence that carries on from the previous chapter will be posted up here, although there won't be any this chapter because this is the beginning of the second case.

Hope you all enjoy this new chapter. Don't forget to leave a review when you're done reading! Until the next update everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Under the Midnight Moon Pt. 1<strong>

"_Hello?_" a person's voice was heard saying in a greeting tone through a cell phone they had against their ear. It was kind of hard to tell whether the owner was a man or a woman because of the voice being heavily muffled that it sounded more like a terribly soft whisper.

"_I have another job for you,_" the other person on the other end said abruptly, this one also near impossible to clearly discern. "_I need you to take care of a little problem for me, a problem that could prove problematic for us if it isn't taken care of immediately._"

"_Oh, you remember that I like these kinds of missions where everything depends on making only the right moves. I'm honestly quite flattered. So what is it that you want me to do? You want me to steal some important documents from big-name companies, or do you want me to make sure some dolt's tracks are covered up so the police don't end up sniffing out what we're doing?_"

"_Actually, it's something that's a lot more serious. I want you to perform an erasure for me. It seems that one of our 'friends' is starting to become uncooperative. I find it best that we take care f him now before he turns resistant._"

"_Oh, an erasure mission. It's been a while since you've assigned me with something as thrilling and daring as this._"

"_That's because there hasn't been any need for me to put you on one in the longest of times. You did at least follow my directions and stole the cell phone you're using from _that_ person in order to make this call, did you?_"

"_You know that I always listen and follow your instructions all the way to a T, sir. Just tell me who it is that you want to have killed, and I'll make sure our designated scapegoat is the one who takes the blame for it and that this number is erased from its memory._"

"_Then listen carefully, because I'm only going to give you these instructions once. I don't want a repeat with what happened to Naeco two weeks ago, so don't make any mistakes whatsoever. I want you to take out..._"

_The next day..._

It had been at least two weeks since Sonic went on and actually won the first case of his professional career as a defense attorney. Even if it were not his first case, he still would have done anything within his legal right to try and get his client acquitted on the charges of murder because it just so happened to be his best friend that was accused. Miles Prower, better known by his nickname as Tails, happened to have been caught up in a rather well-planned murder by the actual murderer now behind bars. Why he had chosen the young twelve-year-old fox, nobody really knew. What was made clear, however, was that he was the true murderer and attempted to cover up his tracks by placing the blame on another.

With that fiasco now put behind the two of them, the hedgehog and fox went back to living their normal lives. For Sonic, that meant working at the office of his current employer, Dr. Ivo Robotnik of the Robotnik Law Firm. While he was only seventeen, the attorney's guild, a group of specially chosen people elected by the people to watch over and uphold the rules of attorneys, deemed him worthy of wearing an attorney's badge. The reason for that was because he scored the highest in a test given to choice students given the chance to participate in one of their government-funded programs that had them study law throughout their high school career and treat it as working at a college law major. Needless to say, this was exactly what the hedgehog had done in order to bring him to where he was now, graduated from high school one year early and already out in the work world with a solid job under his belt.

Tails, on the other hand, did not have any kind of job whatsoever. This was perfectly understandable since he was at least four years off before even having a chance to land a part-time job. Ironically, this did not mean that he was busy going to school getting a well-deserved education. This was so because the school district had acknowledged him to have been both physically and mentally prepared to go on to college. It was through a barrage of tests that stranded from his supposed sixth grade status all the way to twelfth grade honors and AP level tests that they decided his IQ was more than high enough to skip all upcoming grades. This also meant that he could go to college if he so wished to, but he did not feel much of a need to go yet since he knew that he would be bullied beyond belief because of both his two tails and his size. Despite not going to school, he still made it a point to always crack open some kind of educational book and read through it so as to not lose his academic edge when the time came that he felt ready to pursue a higher education.

Since he was not going to school and did not really have much to do in terms of hanging out in the world outside his home, he usually stayed at Sonic's place that he had called home for the past few months. It was not that he was an antisocial person; it was just that he did not have many friends because of people jealous of his genius and his two tails.

He used to live with his parents, but something unexpected had happened to them. They had both contracted a deadly disease during a business trip from abroad. He was staying at Sonic's place at the time. They never made it back home. Since then, he had lived with the teen that he had considered to be his older brother. Thankfully, the courts deemed the teen as capable enough in taking care of the young fox mainly because of the fact that he had a steady job with an equally steady source of income despite the fact that he himself was also an orphan nearing the end of his stay in the legal adoption system. He had been arguing that he could take care of the little guy once he got his job, but he had a real hard time fighting to postpone the adoption papers. Needless to say, he managed to use his knowledge about the law to his advantage and stalled the courts long enough for things to end in his favor.

Both guys were right now inside the Robotnik Law Firm office, one working on some papers regarding the first case he worked on while the other was busy sweeping the carpet for any big pieces before vacuuming it. It was clear that they were both busy, but this did not impede them from holding up a friendly conversation to make their rather mundane tasks more interesting.

"So when is it that you think you're going to be going to some college Tails?" Sonic asked as his eyes never left the paper in his hands. "I've been getting a lot of junk mail from all these elite colleges who want to have your brilliant mind to call their very own. If I didn't know any better, I'd be thinking that they're harassing me here."

"I thought I told you already that I'm not planning on considering any colleges until I turn sixteen," Tails responded with a small sigh as he continued to sweep the carpet. "I'm waiting until I'm a little bit older so that there'd be less of a chance of me getting jumped by those crazy guys. Call me paranoid, but I think my small size makes me a good target for bullies. Combine that with the fact that I have two tails on me, and I'm going to be a constant moving target."

"Oh, not everybody's that bad, you know?" the cobalt hedgehog responded in a way that an older brother would to his younger brother as he finished reading the paper and placed it on top of his wooden desk. "There are quite a good amount of good guys up there actually working on their college work. They're too busy worrying about that to go searching the entire campus for you just to torture you."

"I know, but I'd still rather wait until I'm at least sixteen before I go," the orange furred fox stated with a shrug of his shoulders as he stopped sweeping momentarily so that he could move a brown coffee table out of the way. "I prefer having an added piece of mind and knowing that there's less risk of me getting jumped. And while we're on this topic, why aren't you thinking about going to a college to put more knowledge into your head?"

"And let my brain rot away by learning things that I'll most likely not use during my entire lifespan? I thought you already had a good feel that I hate going to school. I managed to convince my parents to let me join that government-funded class when I started as a freshman in high school. They said that they would treat the program as a college law major and give it to us if we can adequately pass the classes they throw at us along with our normal high school classes. I've always been intrigued at what the law was, and that was as good a chance as any to learn more about it while skipping out of college at the same time."

"Oh, you always try to find the easy way out when it comes to studying. You never know when you might need to learn something else in case you end up losing this job. You know that nothing is ever absolute in this world."

"Oh, cut with the philosophical talk, would you? So what if I'm taking a huge gamble with only having this skill as a profession? At least it's something to look forward to in terms of what tomorrow might have for me."

"And you're here telling me about sounding philosophical," Tails responded with a chuckle as he readied the vacuum standing next to the wall by connecting the cable to a nearby outlet.

"My, it sounds like you two are having a lot of fun in here today," the sound of a man suddenly said, slightly startling the two from their conversation. They both simultaneously turned their heads towards the source of the voice and saw that it was Dr. Robotnik himself speaking to them.

"Oh, hello sir," Sonic greeted the man with a smile as he momentarily stopped what he was doing. "We weren't expecting you to be back for at least another hour."

"The meeting got cut short for some odd reason," the man simply responded without taking his jacket off as he walked straight across the room. "It wasn't as if it were eventful anyhow. So how are things with you two over here?"

"We're both getting as much work done as we can," the fox stated happily as he held off on starting up the vacuum so as to not drown out their voices. "I was just about to go ahead and start vacuuming the office."

"Oh, you don't need to go and do that Tails," Dr. Robotnik said with a smile as he went to a file cabinet and opened it up to look at the files that were resting in there. "This office hasn't been this clean even before I first bought this place years ago. I understand the circumstances surrounding your educational status, but surely you have other things that you could be doing besides hanging around this ratty old place and picking up after us."

"I honestly don't mind it at all. I don't really like hanging around at home all day with nothing to do while Sonic is here doing whatever work he's supposed to be doing here. If I can, I'd like to help out in any way I can here, even if it's just doing something as bland as cleaning up this office."

"Trust me on this sir; once Tails has something planted in his mind, the chances of anybody changing his mind are slim to none," the cobalt hedgehog said with a small sigh as he wrote something on the paper he was reading before putting it down and getting up from the chair to stretch a bit. "He can be a bit stubborn like that."

"Well, if this is truly what he wants to do, then who am I to go and take away his right to do so?" the man responded with a warm smile as he took out a single folder and closed the drawer. "Just so we're clear on this, however, I can't necessarily pay you for the work you're conducting here no matter how good it might be."

"Oh, that's alright. I wasn't even thinking about earning money when I started cleaning here. I prefer to think of this as getting some good work experience and ethics rather than a chance to earn some spending money. After all, how is one supposed to earn good money if they don't even have any kind or work experience under their belt?"

"Now that's definitely as good of an attitude if I ever heard of one," the man replied happily before moving back towards the office exit while skimming the contents of the folder. "I'm sorry to have to go so suddenly after just arriving, but I merely came here to get a file on a certain case. It seems as though the detectives are becoming interested in it again and want me to bring in whatever I have concerning it."

"Are you sure you don't want to at least have something to drink before you go?" the young fox asked. "I think it'd be good if you hydrated yourself a bit."

"I thank you for the concern Tails, but I'll be more than fine. I probably won't be back here after this, so please lock up when you leave. Also, if you happen to get someone who needs a defense attorney, don't hesitate to go and offer your services to them. If they're stubborn, just tell them that you're my understudy learning everything there is to know about the trade from me. I'm sure they'd understand."

"Provided that I don't end up getting some high-strung stubborn client on the phone that is," the teenaged defense attorney responded with slight sarcasm in his words. "And don't worry about the office; I'll make sure to lock everything up when we're done."

"Good, then I'll see you both tomorrow," he said before he opened the door once again and left through it.

"And there he goes again," Sonic said with a sigh as he moved around the desk and headed off towards the bathroom. The basic layout of the office was almost akin to that of a standard single person apartment, except that what would have been a bedroom was converted into a second office and the coat closet made into a second bathroom made especially for women. He was currently heading for the one designated for men. "How could he have possibly run a good business always not being in his office?"

"I think he used to conduct all of those important business meetings in here before he decided to give you a job here," Tails speculated as he proceeded to plug in the vacuum and got ready to clean the carpet. "I don't think that he'd even have a business here if he did that. Now that you're here, he can go ahead and conduct his meetings elsewhere while you stay behind and hold the fort."

"Thanks for the recap, Mr. Obvious," the cobalt hedgehog replied sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as he closed the bathroom door for privacy. He did not say anything else for a couple of minutes after that inside.

Just as the fox was about to turn on the loud machine, he heard the phone on Sonic's desk start to ring. Knowing that the other was not in the most optimal position to answer, he took it upon himself to do it for him. Sighing, he walked towards the ringing contraption and lifted the handle off of the receiver.

"Hello, you have reached the office of Ivo Robotnik, the founder of the Robotnik Law Firm," he greeted whoever it was that was on the other end of the line with great professionalism that was easily expected of a personal secretary. "How may I help you?"

"_Who is this I'm speaking to?_" the person on the other end asked rather abruptly, not even bothering to introduce himself to the young fox.

"My name's T-Miles," the boy said with a quick clearing of his throat as he quickly thought against using his nickname and wanting to sound as professional as possible. "I'm sorry, but Dr. Robotnik isn't in the office at this moment. There is another attorney here, though, if you would like to speak with him."

"_Is that you Tails?_" the person asked, still not bothering to state his name. However, that all changed within the next few seconds. "_Hey little guy, how've you been? I haven't heard from you in a little bit. It's Knuckles._"

"Oh, hey Knuckles," the fox greeted the other with slight surprise in his voice upon now recognizing the owner of said voice. "Sorry for not recognizing your voice. I've been a bit busy doing things around here lately."

"_And what in the world could you be so busy about inside a law firm?_" the other now known as Knuckles asked with his voice sounding like he had one of his eyebrows raised in confusion. "_Actually, don't answer that right now. I have something important I need to discuss with Sonic. Is he there right now?_"

"He just went into the bathroom. I don't know how long he'll be in there, so how about you just leave a message and I'll..." Just as he said that, he heard the toilet flush and the sound of running water before the sight of the door opening happened. "Oh, he just came out. Let me hand the phone off to him. Just wait a moment."

"Who's that Tails?" Sonic asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the phone being shoved in his direction. "Is it some client asking for an attorney?"

"Unless Knuckles suddenly turned into a client in need of a defense, I don't think so," the two tailed fox replied with a small smile as the phone was taken off of his hands. "He said he had something important he wanted to talk to you about?"

"Really? I doubt he wants to talk about a case he's been assigned to. He likes to keep those things to himself sometimes. Hello?" the hedgehog asked as he placed the phone on his ear. "Is that you Knuckles?"

"I know that Tails told you it was me," the other on the phone said with a slight hint of aggravation in his words. "Don't go about asking about something you already know. You know I hate it when you do that."

"I know, but I just like to mess around with you like that. Anyway, what is this important thing that Tails said you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Actually, I don't think talking about this over the phone is such a good idea. It's just that it was my only way to get into contact with you from here."

"Huh? You're starting to lose me here Knucklehead. Just hurry up and spit it out already before I go and hang up on you."

"Look, just come down over to the detention center and meet me there. And please try to get here before four this afternoon. I don't really have a lot of time left before..."

"Times up buddy," the voice of another person was heard saying on the other end to Knuckles. "Best you wrap up your conversation now. Be thankful that I didn't just hang up the phone for you like I usually do on others."

"Look, just get your sorry butt down here now. I'll be waiting for you there."

"W-wait Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed as he tried to get more information on the currently mysterious acting caller, but all he was greeted was with the sound of a dial tone, a sign that the other had already hung up.

"What's going on Sonic?" Tails asked as he was busy wiping the coffee table with a wet dishcloth he took from the small kitchen area during the call. He had been trying to listen in on the conversation but did not manage to get much out from only hearing Sonic's end. "What was so important that Knuckles wanted to talk to you about?"

"I have absolutely no idea Tails," the hedgehog admitted as he put the phone back onto its receiver and walked over towards the door. "All he said was to meet him down at the detention center before four this afternoon."

"Well, you better hurry up and get there then," the fox stated as he stole a glance at a clock that was resting against the wall. "It's already three, and it takes at least fifteen minutes to get there by cab."

"I know that. Oh, this is one of those times where it really sucks to not have a car to call you own here. Anyway, why don't you come along with me? The two of us haven't really seen the guy for a while, and I kind of have to lock the office up since I'm the only worker officially on this payroll left in here."

"That sounds like a pretty good idea. Just give me a couple of seconds to put all this stuff away and I'll be ready."

After both boys spent a couple of minutes making sure everything was put back to their rightful spot, they were both out the door with Sonic making sure he locked up adequately. The last thing he needed right now was to be chewed out by his boss for leaving the door unlocked and allowing thieves to just come in and steal whatever it is that they wanted.

After suffering through intolerable traffic inside a taxi they managed to hail for thirty minutes that they barely managed to survive through by talking with each other, the two of them finally made it to the detention center where Knuckles had asked to meet the cobalt hedgehog over the phone. The detention center was basically a slightly less severe version of a jail where people accused of a crime are held in the time both before and during their court case. It was common practice for attorneys from both sides of the line and detectives to visit the person at the center of a case.

"Tails, let me be the first to welcome you to the most boring place ever known to man on this planet," Sonic announced as he got out of the taxi followed closely by Tails. "This is the detention center where all accused criminals stay until the time the hearing of their sentence is spoken of."

"You don't have to go explaining what this place is to me Sonic," the young fox responded as he gave a slight shiver upon laying his eyes on the building with security walking in and out of it as well as around the perimeter. "I've been in there two weeks ago during that harbor murder."

"You don't have to go in there if you don't want to," the cobalt hedgehog said as he clearly noticed his little brother's unease. "I can have the cab take you back home and you could wait for me there."

"No, I'll be fine. I'll go in with you. Besides, I want to see Knuckles again. I haven't really had a chance to see him for a couple of months already."

"I know," the attorney said as he and the two tailed fox made their way towards the building. "He's been going crazy with his work lately. Those prosecutors really oughta learn how to cut him some slack. I know that being a detective for them is hard work and all, but sheesh."

"Well, they all want to make sure they have everything they possibly need to make their case heard. Nothing he can do about that, you know?"

As they continued on with their conversation, the two finally walked through the open doors of the building and were now in what looked to be a main lobby area. In it was some decorative plant décors with chairs for people to sit in. There was also a small desk with a woman sitting behind it typing away at the keyboard in front of her wit her eyes never wandering away from the monitor.

"Excuse me miss," Sonic addressed the woman politely once he had reached the desk. Said woman stopped her typing and looked at the hedgehog with a small smile in greeting and acknowledgement. "Do you know where I could find Knuckles, one of the detectives who works for the prosecutor's office?"

"Ah yes," the woman stated simply with a nod of her head as she recalled the name. "He was just brought in here a couple of hours ago. Might I ask who you are so I can tell him who it is that came to visit him?"

"Uh, my name's Sonic Hedgehog," the attorney answered, clearly confused as to what she had meant by that. He then brought his little brother up a bit so as to show that he was also a designated visitor. "And this is Miles Prower."

"Miles and Prower," the secretary murmured to herself in a sort of familiar way as she typed the names into her computer. She then brought her attention back to the two with a look of realization. "Oh, you're that attorney who defended this child from his accusation of murder, aren't you? I knew your names sounded familiar."

"Oh, I didn't think you'd remember us with all these other people wanting to visit their client and family," Tails responded with slight awe at the woman's good memory.

"Well, you sometimes learn to recognize faces when you see so many different people walking in and out so many times. Anyway, you two just go on down that hallway through the tenth door on your right."

"Thank you miss," the hedgehog thanked the secretary with a small smile as he held onto the fox's hand and led him down the aforementioned hall.

"You don't have to go holding my hand Sonic," the boy said as he wriggled his hand out of the older teen. "I'm not some little kid who needs to be led by the hand everywhere."

"I know, but I am legally responsible for you until you turn eighteen," the attorney stated with a small smile as the fox walked right up next to him. "You can't really blame me for being this clingy to you."

"Whatever. Just don't go about acting all brotherly and mushy when we're in front of Knuckles. You know that he'll never let us live it down if he saw us acting like that."

With a small chuckle leaving the hedgehog's throat, the two continued on down the hallway. It was a couple of steps later until they reached the designated door the secretary had directed them to. They went in assuming that they would meet with Knuckles, but all they were greeted with as a couple of chairs sitting against a see-through glass that separated the second half of the room. On the other side was a barred window and a security camera moving around the room in silent observation. This was a room that Tails knew all too well; after all, he was in this room when he had to take care of his trial two weeks ago.

"Why in the world would that woman direct us to this place, of all places?" Sonic wondered out loud with his eyebrows raised as he looked around his half of the room for the one who had called them over and failed to find anybody. "Is this her idea of a joke to play on me just because I'm a newbie attorney? If that's so, then it's the worst joke ever."

"Why is it that I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this?" the two tailed fox wondered with a slight tone of worry hinting at the edge of his words.

And almost as if giving an answer to us rhetorical question, the doors on the other side of the window had opened. Out came a man adorned in a blue shirt and black pants, an officer who worked at this detention center as a prisoner escort and security. Following right behind him was a red furred echidna who looked quite annoyed and possibly angered at the situation he was in. His eyes were slightly squinted with said anger before widening back to what seemed to be their original size when he saw the two on the other side.

"Oh no," the cobalt hedgehog groaned out as he slapped his forehead in disbelief. "Please tell me that you're just playing a cruel joke on me here. This is definitely not a funny thing to be trying out on the newbie here."

"Wow, I didn't think that I'd be getting that kind of a hello after not meeting you for a couple of months," the red echidna stated with sarcasm as he took a seat on a chair. "It's nice to see that you brought Tails with you too."

"Please don't tell me you managed to get yourself accused of murder Knuckles," Tails stated with disbelief in his words. "How does someone like you manage to get yourself into a mess like this?"

"Hey, not even detectives like me are immune to troubles like this," the other now known as Knuckles simply responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "I just wish that it wasn't me who was on this end of the stick. I guess I now know how the accused feel when they have to stay in here. It's not exactly the Ritz, I'll tell you that."

"How the hell did you land yourself on the other side of this stupid glass?" the defense attorney asked, clearly still not over the initial shock of seeing his good friend sitting on the other side talking to him.

"And I still don't at least get a hello from this guy. At least it's good to know that that little detail about you doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.

"Anyway, I called you in here because I wanted to ask for your help," the echidna continued on after getting past the informality issue. "I need your help to bail me out of here. And by that, I mean I want you to represent me in court tomorrow."

"I took a figurance on you saying that," the blue furred teen responded with a sigh as he shook his head for no apparent reason. "You don't even need to ask me whether or not if I'll defend you; you should've already known the answer to that. Like Tails, I'm not going to stand by and watch you get accused of something you didn't do when I can do something about it. And before we go any further, why did you need me to rush all the way over here just to ask me if I could help you?"

"You're a fresh attorney, so I'm guessing you didn't know this little fact. If the accused doesn't manage to enlist the help of the attorney they asked to represent them in court by four on the day after they are arrested, then the state shall take the liberty of choosing one for me. That's why I asked you to rush over here. You sure know how to cut things close like you did back in high school, do you? Do you know what time it is right now?"

"So what if it's ten 'til four? At least I managed to get here before then. Hey bailiff, could you get me those attorney papers that I need to fill out?"

"The papers are over there to your left," the officer on the other side of the glass stated as he pointed to the designated area. "There's also a small camera where you can take a photo of your Attorney's Badge. You need that in order for us to know that you're a genuine attorney registered with the county. Once you're done filling it out, leave it there and I'll contact someone to come and pick it up. I'll go ahead and warn the front desk to hold the call to the district attorney's office while you fill those papers out."

"Thank you sir," Sonic thanked the man as he moved to his left where he saw some papers and a small camera. He then proceeded to officiate his claim that he would be defending Knuckles in court tomorrow.

"So Knuckles, do you think you can tell me how it was you got yourself on that side of this glass?" Tails asked, clearly wanting to know the events that led up to this current scene. "Were you really accused of murdering somebody?"

"That is what the cops and the prosecutors are saying," Knuckles stated with a small sigh and a shake of his head. "Apparently, they don't believe me when I say that I didn't kill this woman that I don't even know."

"Do you think you could tell me what happened?" the fox asked as he started to feel like Sonic's assistant with all these questions. "I don't think it'd be a good idea to wait for Sonic with this. You know how long he tends to take with homework, and I highly doubt that making out these papers would be any exception."

"I've already told this story to the detectives taking over this case, but I suppose it would be better if you hear it from me," the echidna responded with a shrug of his shoulders that was in agreement to the fox's comment. "I was told by one of my higher-ups to go and inspect a disturbance at the scene where I was arrested. What kind of disturbance it was, I have no idea. They only said that the precinct had an anonymous tipoff that something bad was going to take place. Needless to say, I went there and ended up getting myself arrested for being at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You don't just get arrested for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. That's exactly what I thought happened to me when I was on trial, and it ended up the real murderer had somehow gotten ahold of Sonic's house number and got me to go to the harbor by saying he was a detective who had some bad news about you. He said something about you being badly wounded and wanting to talk to me about you there. I was set up then so that I could take the fall for when he dropped the crate on some other guy."

"I've already heard about that case a million times already. That Prosecutor Vector that Sonic managed to beat in his case has been cursing up a storm in his office and acting like a baby since then and driving everybody nuts about it. He almost got himself kicked out for a week without pay if I didn't go in and try to calm him down. He told me he made peace with you two after that case, but he's still acting sour about it. Honestly, it was just a simple case he lost, not the life of someone he was supposed to protect."

"I'm guessing then that you know the prosecutor pretty well."

"He was a guy who acted as my friend and babysitter before I moved away from my hometown when I was still in elementary school. I didn't think that I'd meet up with him again while working at the precinct as a detective again with him now a prosecutor. We've been trying to work on cases together as a team ever since. He worked hard to get that badge pinned onto his prized headset, and he even started a little detective agency of his own as a sort of side job and hobby outside of prosecuting cases."

"But you're not working directly for him as a part of his agency?"

"Hey, I might like the guy as a kind of an older brother deal, but I'd rather stick with my work down at the precinct. Compared to his small name agency, the pay really isn't all that great, and I have a life I need to keep in good financial standing. I'm amazed that he even has a worker working for him, let alone two. They're probably pretty good friends of his that he made after I moved, because I don't remember ever seeing them before nor have I known people to work for such a pitiful pay."

"Sounds like you got a purse pincher for a friend there," Sonic said as he finished up with a couple of the forms before moving on to taking a photo of his badge. He placed it under the lens and started pressing a couple of buttons to begin the photography process. "You never told me that you knew that crazy crocodile before."

"That's because there hasn't really been a need for me to tell you about him," Knuckles simply replied. "You never asked about my friends from before I met you, and I wouldn't have told you about it even if you had asked.

"Hey, I just got an idea!" the echidna continued as his eyes lit up a bit. "If I know how Vector is, then news about me getting arrested should've gotten to him by now. And if he knows about it, then he most likely got his guys to go on ahead and begin their investigation of the scene."

"And what does this have to do with this brilliant idea of yours?" the blue furred hedgehog questioned as there was a momentary blinding flash emitted from the camera. "I've known you since middle school, and you weren't really the kind of guy who could make such mind-catching ideas from scratch."

"Yeah, well desperate times calls for desperate measures, and this is my life that's hanging on the line here. An idea's an idea no matter how bad it might seem, and we don't really have time to be picky here. What I'm trying to say here is that being his detective agency works independently from the precinct, he has the right to hold onto any evidence and give it to anybody provided the prosecutor's office doesn't issue a subpoena for them to turn it over. And so long as he uses his prosecutor powers and registers them into the system and to the case it's connected to, then he shouldn't have any problems beyond the issuing of said subpoena. If everything has happened the way I just said it, then Vector and his gang should have some stuff on them concerning this. So long as that croc remembers to register the stuff within the prosecution records, everything should be fine."

"Ha ha, you're darn right we found some good stuff there!" a slightly high pitch and hyper voice suddenly answered, causing all three to look at the door where the visitors came in through. _Hovering_ right in front of it was a black and yellow striped bee with a black helmet over his head. He probably stood just under Sonic's waist if he were actually standing with his two feet planted firmly on the ground. He was smiling a rather triumphant and almost cocky-like smile as he fiddled with the brown rimmed goggles perched on his helmet with one hand while the other held onto a white plastic bag filled with some unknown stuff. Right behind him was the secretary from earlier breathing heavy breaths that no doubt came from some fast movements she had performed just recently.

"Charmy, I've told you a million times to never go barging into places that you first need to get permission from somebody," Knuckles stated to the hovering and smiling bee with a sigh as he shook his head. "You're going to end up getting yourself in big trouble one of these days if you keep doing that. I'm sorry miss, but this bee works for Prosecutor Vector. I can personally vouch for that."

"Oh, it's not that I don't know who he is that I ended up chasing him," the woman said as he finally caught her breath and started to breath normally again. "It's that he just zoomed right by me without so much as even slowing down to say hello. I didn't know if he was an intruder or anything like that."

"Gee, I'm sorry to have scared you half out of your mind lady," the small bee known as Charmy said without really looking at her when he apologized as he continued to hover closer towards Tails and the echidna.

"Just please remember to not do that again. I won't allow you to enter this detention center anymore if that happens," the woman warned before smoothing out her shirt and walking back to her position at the front desk.

"I wonder what's eating her from the inside out?" the hyper bee wondered innocently as he shrugged his shoulders. He then said while still seemingly unaware of the other two in the room with him, "Anyway, Vector told me to come here and give this stuff to you so that you could give it to whoever is going to be helping you get out of this mess."

"I knew that Vector would catch wind about this," the echidna stated with a smile. "Tell him thanks for me when you get back. You can go ahead and pass on the stuff to the guy that's just to your left."

"Oh, I didn't even see him there!" the bee stated excitedly as he looked to his left and saw Sonic just staring at him with raised eyebrows. "Sorry about that big guy. All the stuff that we managed to get ahold of at the scene before the precinct detectives started showing up is in this bag."

"Uh, thanks?" the cobalt hedgehog thanked in an unsure tone as he took procession of the bag pushed at him.

"So you didn't end up getting everything in the park that you thought would be useful there?"

"Well, me and Espio didn't really have much a chance to do a thorough check after looking for some of the obvious stuff. We really only took the things that we could clearly on the first get-go. Sorry about that."

"At least it's better than nothing," the attorney said with a shrug as he opened the bag to see what was in there. Most of them were already inside an evidence bag and clearly labeled with a small description, so it was safe for him to dive in without any gloves. As he took them out and placed them on the table, he took note of what they were. They were a simple Handgun, a Crime Scene Photo taken before anything was touched and collected, a single Bullet, and a red Cell Phone with a sort of fire décor on it and a strap with the word"KNUCKLES" on it.

"What the hell is my Cell Phone doing in that bag?" Knuckles exclaimed with surprise as he looked at the device resting on the table. "Is this you're your attempt at making a joke or something Charmy?"

"Hey, I might be immature, but I at least know that joking around with evidence isn't really the smartest things to do," the small bee responded without flinching at the sudden change of tone. "That and Espio would've killed me if he saw me trying to play a prank like that on you. We found it just lying there next to the victim. It looks as if he had a struggle with you and the phone fell out of his hands when he fell."

"But that's impossible!" the echidna stated with anger clear in his voice. "I lost my phone the day before yesterday's fiasco. I couldn't possibly have conveniently left my phone there for the police to find, regardless whether I murdered the girl or not. And just for the record, I never once laid a finger on the victim."

"Speaking of victims, did you guys managed to get an ID on the poor guy?" Sonic asked as he took a look at the photo. It showed a female teal furred fox garbed in regular outing clothes lying face up with a single gunshot wound on her chest directly over her heart. It was clear to him that she had died instantaneously. Her body was kind of off the park path close to a line of trees that lead into the park's rather small forest. The Cell Phone he had now was shown in the picture lying right next to the woman's open right hand, signifying that she might have held onto it just before being shot.

"Sorry, but Vector didn't manage to get that far into his personal investigation. He kind of ran out of time and had me rush over here when it was getting close to four so that I could hand this stuff off to whoever was defending Knuckles."

"Oh well, I'm sure that we'll be able to figure out who she is in court tomorrow," the cobalt hedgehog simply responded with a small shrug of his shoulders as he put all the evidence back into the white plastic bag it came in. "Do you think that I could go and see what's there at the crime scene?"

"I doubt it. The police are practically swarming the park like a bunch of crazy people. I don't think you'd be able to set even one foot inside unless you have someone in the police department or even the prosecutor's office to give you permission."

"Then how about we go and ask Vector to give us permission?" Tails suggested as he looked at the papers long discarded by the attorney and made sure he had filled them out correctly. "He's a prosecutor, and he does have close ties with Knuckles. That and he decided to become our friends after you beat him that time."

"I can try asking him for you guys, but I doubt he'll be able to give you access until tomorrow. He got swamped with work on other cases right before I left to give you this stuff. If you want to go searching the park, it'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"Well, as long as we get to go in there sometime during this case, it'll be fine. Thanks again for giving us this stuff Charmy."

"Anytime," the bee responded with a huge beaming smile on his face as he began to leave the room. "Anyway, I got to hurry up and get back. Espio wanted me to do something for him after I did this. With the way the guys are treating me, you'd think that I was some kind of messenger boy."

"I think it's high time we left, too," the hedgehog stated just as the hyper bee left the room. He then said as he made his way to the door. "I need to get back to the office and put in the record that I'll be defending you on this case. Dr. Robotnik may be a good defense attorney, but he sure is a stickler for all these small details and stuff. Later Knucklehead."

"We'll see you tomorrow Knuckles," the two tailed fox said as he followed behind the quickly retreating attorney and waved goodbye to the echidna on the other side of the glass. "Sonic'll get you out of this; I'm sure of it."

"Just make sure he doesn't end up flubbing up my only chance at getting out of here," the detective stated just before they had both left the room. He then added thoughtfully to himself as he got up and began to be escorted out of the room, _Having one successful case under his belt hardly qualifies for him to be a reliable attorney. I hope I didn't make him bite off more than he could chew by asking him to defend me._

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Nobody would believe that Sonic was one if he didn't have it pinned proudly upon his chest. He proved that he was deserving of it despite his age after successfully completing his first career case.

Handgun: The murder weapon in the killing at the park. It is a precinct issue wielded by the detectives. Both the prints and the serial number connecting it to its owner have been wiped clean. It shows signs of being fired twice.

Crime Scene Photo: Shows the scene of the murder before Vector and his detective gang collected the evidence. A handgun is seen lying abandoned a few feet away from the body; a fiery red cell phone is seen on the ground a few inches from the victim's open right hand. It also shows a single gunshot wound to the chest above the heart.

Bullet: A bullet found lodged in a nearby tree. Tests show that it was fired by the gun found at the scene.

Red Cell Phone: Belongs to Knuckles. He says he lost it the day before the murder and that it couldn't have been anywhere near the crime scene. It has a black strap that has its owner's name on it. The prints have been wiped.

**New Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. Passed the bar exam with flying colors, allowing him to earn his Attorney's Badge a year earlier than normal. Has a likable and confident attitude about him, but sometimes gets nervous when in the courtroom. He's Tails' adoptive big brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He spends most of his time in the Robotnik Law Firm where Sonic works making sure the place stays relatively clean. He doesn't go to school because of the school board recognizing his brilliant mind surpassing even the most advanced high school work.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not.

Knuckles Echidna: The defendant in this case and Sonic and Tails' friend. He is an eighteen-year-old detective who works at the local precinct and is apparently good friends with Prosecutor Vector. He has been accused of murdering a woman found shot to death in the local park.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.


	4. Under the Midnight Moon Pt 2

Hello everybody! This marks the beginning of both a new chapter and a new court hearing. Let's go ahead and see how Sonic is going to fare in this day's care proceedings this time around. It's bound to be a rather interesting day for everybody in the courtroom.

Yeah, I don't really have much to say here because my allergies caused me to take allergy pills that cause me to become drowsy. And when I'm drowsy, my mind is kind of in the mud. Don't even ask how I'm able to type these words down.

Anyway, you all can go ahead and move onto the story now. Until the next update everybody!

* * *

><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Nobody would believe that Sonic was one if he didn't have it pinned proudly upon his chest. He proved that he was deserving of it despite his age after successfully completing his first career case.

Handgun: The murder weapon in the killing at the park. It is a precinct issue wielded by the detectives. Both the prints and the serial number connecting it to its owner have been wiped clean. It shows signs of being fired twice.

Crime Scene Photo: Shows the scene of the murder before Vector and his detective gang collected the evidence. A handgun is seen lying abandoned a few feet away from the body; a fiery red cell phone is seen on the ground a few inches from the victim's open right hand. It also shows a single gunshot wound to the chest above the heart.

Bullet: A clean bullet found lodged in a nearby tree. Tests show that it was fired by the gun found at the scene.

Red Cell Phone: Belongs to Knuckles. He says he lost it the day before the murder and that it couldn't have been found anywhere near the crime scene. It has a black strap that has its owner's name on it. The prints have been wiped.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. Passed the bar exam with flying colors, allowing him to earn his Attorney's Badge a year earlier than normal. Has a likable and confident attitude about him, but sometimes gets nervous when in the courtroom. He's Tails' adoptive big brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He spends most of his time in the Robotnik Law Firm where Sonic works making sure the place stays relatively clean. He doesn't go to school because of the school board recognizing his brilliant mind surpassing even the most advanced high school work.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not.

Knuckles Echidna: The defendant in this case and Sonic and Tails' friend. He is an eighteen-year-old detective who works at the local precinct and is apparently good friends with Prosecutor Vector. He has been accused of murdering a woman found shot to death in the local park.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Under the Midnight Moon Pt. 2<strong>

After spending a few hours studying up on the preliminary case file he was sent on his computer after the court's had received his papers, Sonic still did not feel like he was completely ready to prove Knuckles, a detective at the local precinct, innocent of the crime of murder. It was only natural that he felt that way being that the preliminary report failed to really discuss anything new beyond what he had already figured out yesterday afternoon. Basically, he was going to be going into this courtroom somewhat blind with no idea where he is supposed to go or even do for that matter.

"Hey Sonic," the voice of Tails spoke up, snapping the cobalt hedgehog out of his inner musings. "I got you some soda to drink before the case starts. I know how it can help calm you down a bit."

"Thanks buddy," the hedgehog thanked his little brother as he took the can from the other and opened the tab before taking a swig from it. He then said after he had swallowed the bubbling liquid, "I really needed that right now."

"Do you think that you can get Knuckles out of this mess today?" the two tailed fox questioned with a slight cocking of his head. Said person was sitting on one of the waiting room's chairs looking rather stoic and with his arms crossed. "I mean, we don't really have a lot to go on right now."

"I doubt we can wrap this up by today. I still haven't even checked out the park yet. You never know when the police might have overlooked something there that they thought to have been nothing."

"Do you really think the police are that stupid to not pick something up just because they think it has nothing to do with the case?"

"Trust me Tails," Knuckles spoke up with a slight scoff of his breath. "This police department seems to run under a weird set of rules. There have been many times when cases were suspended and judged wrong because of a lack of evidence. Two months later, a key piece of evidence is found at the scene of the crime, evidence that the police believed to have no bearing to the case. It's pretty stupid if you ask me."

"Gee, that really helps to calm my nerves Knuckles," Sonic responded sarcastically as he took another sip of his soda. "Anyway, why don't you go on home Tails? I might be stuck here for a while, and I don't want you to wait for me here and get bored."

"I'm going in there with you Sonic," Tails simply responded, taking the hedgehog slightly by surprise. "And don't even think about talking me out of this. I'm sure they'd let me in with you as long as I pose as your assistant. That and you probably need one sooner or later. And besides, you never know when you might need a second opinion on something a witness might say."

Before the defense attorney even had a chance to argue with the fox, they heard the bailiff calling from the courtroom doorway saying that they were going to start with the proceedings in about a minute. With that hardly enough time to even make a convincing argument, the hedgehog simply walked into the courtroom with his now ordained assistant following closely behind him while throwing the now empty can into a nearby trashcan. The echidna soon followed suit with the bailiff escorting him to his designated spot.

After waiting a couple more minutes and spending that time organizing all their evidence on the table, they heard the bailiff announcing the judge's entrance to the courtroom. The audience all quieted down and stood up in respect to His Honor's presence. Once he had taken his seat at his podium, the audience then took their respective seats and the court proceedings had officially begun.

"Court is now in session!" the judge declared with a bang of his gavel, causing what trace amount of conversation still going on to cease. "We will now begin with the trial of Detective Knuckles. Are both the defense and prosecution ready?"

"The defense is ready, Your Honor," Sonic said with a bit more confidence when compared to his first time in the courtroom setting. This was also when he took notice of the prosecutor standing across from him.

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor," the prosecutor responded in a tone that was somewhat deep. It held a sense of familiarity to the cobalt hedgehog, and his eyes only furthered that familiar feeling as he looked at the person. Even Tails seemed to have known who the other was. The person was a male hedgehog with fur just like Sonic's except for its ebon color and red streaks on the quills. His eyes were a deep ruby red and seemed to hold a fire that showed he was determined to do whatever it was that he had set his mind to. On his chest towards the left of the tuft of white fur was a prosecutor's badge pinned in a sort of idle fashion.

"My, this case should be quite interesting," the judge stated with a slight raise of his eyebrows as he shifted his eyes between the two sides of the courtroom. "We have a young rookie defense attorney who only started his career two weeks ago, and we have a young prosecutor who had a jumpstart on his career a year ago. I always marvel at the fact at how the exercising of the law is being conducted by young respectable teenagers such as yourselves. I know that you both studied hard to get to where you are now, but I still can't believe that you two are standing here in this courtroom defending and prosecuting the defendant. It's amazing how time can change so much."

"If you don't mind, I don't think this is really the most opportune time to be talking about things like this," the ebon hedgehog responded matter-of-factly, although his eyes did gleam some small hint of familiarity and possibly even slight friendliness when he looked at Sonic. "There will be more time to marvel at the powers that time has over all of us. Right now, we have a case that we must oversee and find the answers to as soon as possible."

"Yes, you're right Prosecutor Shadow," the old man replied as he immediately went back to his serious court attitude. "Do you mind making your opening statements about this case so that we'll all be familiar with it?"

"Of course, Your Honor," the ebon furred hedgehog prosecutor now known to be Shadow simply responded with a nod of his head. "The victim, a Ms. Teela Vulpin, was found shot to death in Midnight Park two days ago at one in the morning. She died instantly at around that very time due to a single bullet piercing through her heart. I have here her Autopsy Report that describes the key details surrounding her death."

"The court shall accept this piece of evidence. Is there anything else that might be of importance that we should know of before we continue on?"

"Besides the fact that the Chaotix Detective Agency run by Prosecutor Vector got to the scene first and collected some evidence there, there's nothing else to say," Shadow added as if it were just a minor detail. "Like with other cases that they have been involved in, they registered any and all evidence that they found at the crime scene along with a photo before anything was altered by their hand."

"Ah, the ever infamous Chaotix Detective Agency. I must admit that I had my doubts about the legitimacy of the group when they first came to be. However, two years of successful detective work through providing a fresh set of eyes outside the precinct and their complete cooperation with handing over collected evidence. I would assume that they registered all of the evidence they collected into the database already, right?"

"You can never expect anything less from the good prosecutor, especially when his job is on the line if he makes one single mistake in this hobby of his," the ebon furred hedgehog said with a huff of his breath that sounded strangely like a silent chuckle.

"That's good. Now, does the defense have anything else that they wish to add to the debriefing of this case before we begin?" the judge asked as he moved his attention towards Sonic and Tails.

"I have nothing to add, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog simply responded as he idly scratched the back of his ear. Tails simply stood quietly next to him while listening to what was going on around him.

Very well, then let us move on to the actual case. The defendant, Mr. Knuckles, is a rookie yet well attentive detective down at the local precinct. He was arrested under the suspicion of murder. Can the prosecution procure any kind of evidence or witness that would substantiate this claim?"

"I don't think that I would be here if I didn't have anything of the sort," the young prosecutor responded coolly as he looked down at the evidence in front of him. "There was a witness at the time of the murder. He was busy walking through the park in an attempt to get back to his home quicker when he heard the murder occur. It is with him that I plan to prove the defendant's guilt in this crime."

"What the hell kind of guilt are you ranting on about Shadow?" Knuckles exclaimed angrily, barely managing to keep himself seated to the defendant's chair as the bailiff next to him shot him a warning glance. "You know damn well that I would never kill anybody! The only reason I would do so is to lawfully follow the first rule in the detective handbook: Killed or be killed. That's not what happened here."

_Shut up Knuckles!_ Sonic mentally whined as he also gave himself a mental palm slap to his forehead. Even Tails looked down at the table a bit as he clearly thinking along the same lines as the attorney. _Your big mouth here isn't going to help you much here. You might as well just go ahead and dig your own grave right now if you're doing that._

"The defendant will refrain from speaking out of line!" the judge commanded as he banged his gavel rather roughly. "Might I advise you that what you say in here might potentially bring more harm than good to your case?"

"It's quite alright, Your Honor. I don't feel that it matters much what the defendant has to say for himself. What matters here are the evidence and the witnesses that are going to be presented during the duration of this trial. It is with these words that I ask the first witness be able to take the stand."

"Agreed. Bailiff, please bring in the witness!"

With a small nod of his head, the bailiff left his post beside the detective and went out into the lobby to summon the witness. A couple of seconds later, a young man wearing a simple pair of jeans and a regular white shirt walked up to the witness podium.

"Can you please state your name and occupation for the court?" Shadow asked the man despite already knowing himself who he was and what he did for a living.

"My name's Rush Woker and I work in a small business firm as a speed worker," the man responded with a small nod of his head. "In other words, I make sure everything in the business runs in a quick and effective manner."

"I would suspect then that you are the witness who was walking through the park on the day in question, were you not?" the ebon hedgehog questioned for the sake of the official court transcript.

"I was in the park when this murder occurred," Rush simply stated without saying much else. "If you don't mind, I would like to get my testimony wrapped up as soon as possible. I'm a firm believer that things can only be effectively finished if they are done quickly on their first successful try."

"While I don't quite agree with the witness's opinion on supplying the court with swift testimony, I must agree that we best hurry up and get on with the case," the judge said as he pounded his gavel. "The witness will testify to the court about what he recalls about the night in question. Perhaps we'll all be able to get a clearer picture of everything once we hear what he has to say on the matter."

"What can I do but submit to the court's wishes?" the witness stated more than asked with a small shrug of his shoulders. "If it means that this rather pointless line of speech will be done with sooner, then so be it."

_**The Midnight Park Incident  
><strong>_

It was ten after twelve when I was off work. I had to spend about another twenty minutes though taking care of an employee's mistake at the office. Anyway, I officially left the office at thirty after twelve. It takes about ten minutes for me to get to the park from there. As I was walking through, I heard something rather sharp pierce the air. It was when I followed the source of the sound did I see the body of the poor woman through the light of the full moon. That was when I used my cellphone to call the police. I stayed the entire time until they had arrived.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Hmm, while it does help to specify when the victim was killed, I hardly find this testimony to be concrete in indicating whether or not the defendant was the one who stole her life away," the judge stated with great doubt in his voice.

"Yet this is the testimony that Mr. Woker has provided us," Shadow replied as he also seemed to be somewhat uneasy with his witness's lack of a detailed testimony. He then added with some unfamiliar attitude in his tone, "I would suspect that he purposefully gave us this testimony so as to secure his quick exit of this court. I doubt he'll say anything more on the matter for any reason short of a cross-examination. Do you think that you're up for the task, rookie attorney?"

"And why are you asking if I'm up for the task when it's your witness that's the problem here?" Sonic countered with a sweat drop moving through his fur. "If you ask me, you're the one who should probably do something about him."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Anyway, do you usually get off of work around the midnight hours from your speed worker position, Mr. Woker?" the attorney asked as he began his cross-examination in an attempt to change the subject.

"My ending schedule varies slightly from night to night," Rush explained with a slight roll of his eyes at the question. "But must you really keep me here with a pointless question? Regardless whether or not I have a constant off time doesn't change the fact that I got off just after midnight that day."

"That's just what I was about to bring up," the prosecutor spoke up with a shake of his head. He then added with a formal bite to his words, "Please try to stick with the important questions Sonic and not with baseless thoughts."

"Fine Shadow," the cobalt hedgehog said in a mock formal tone that was full with nothing but annoyance.

"Alright Sonic, no need to lose your cool here," Tails stated with a small clearing of his throat. "As much as I'm rooting for you here, I can't help but to agree with Shadow there. Don't forget that he was always the most reasonable person when it came to the four of us."

"Let's go ahead and move on to the next question," the hedgehog suddenly said, making it seem like he was completely ignoring the fox's words, but the young boy caught the familiar gleam in his eyes that said he caught his words. "According to your testimony, you spent about an extra twenty minutes taking care of things at your work. Because of that, you ended up becoming a witness to the crime. Do you mind telling the court in detail what it was of this crime that you witnessed that night?"

"Now we're finally getting to the heart of things. I suggest that you all listen carefully because I'm not going to repeat myself. When I first saw the woman lying on the ground, I had taken her for someone who was simply enjoying the night sky and the beautiful stars that were glistening brightly. When I got closer, I noticed a rather strange scent carried by the light breeze assailing my nostrils. That was when my eyes took note of the dark red liquid oozing out from her chest, and that was when I whipped out my cellphone and called the police for help."

"You called the police before you even went closer to the victim to make sure she was okay?" the attorney questioned with a raise of his eyebrows. "The area of the park where you discovered her wasn't all that well lit. For all you knew, she could have simply spilled some red paint on her skirt earlier that evening and was simply wondering how she was going to explain the mess to whoever she lived with. I most certainly would've at least gotten closer and see if she was okay before calling the police."

"Again, I don't see any point to this line of questioning," Shadow responded with a heavy sigh that could easily be translated as irritation. "It matters not whether he chose to check up on the victim before calling the police or not. The point here was that he saw the victim lying dead on the ground with blood all over her. And just so you know, there was a full moon out that night. It was lit well enough for anybody to have seen the scene and know what had happened."

"If I might add something to all of this," the judge interrupted with a clearing of his throat. "While this testimony does conclude the fact that this witness saw Ms. Vulpin dead and reported it to the police, it still doesn't answer the question on how he can be the prosecution's key witness in discerning who it was that killed her!"

"Perhaps we should be asking the witness that question," the prosecutor simply said. "Well Mr. Woker, would you care to explain to the court how it was that you say the defendant was the one who killed her?"

"It's simple really. I'm supposing that you would want me to talk about this tedious detail as well?"

"Any kind of testimony regarding the persecution of the defendant is anything but tedious!" the old man responded with a pounding of his gavel. "I don't care about how you're in a rush to finish this; you will add the fact on how you identified the defendant as the killer to your official testimony."

"Alright sir. No need for you to get all cranky at me. I can see now that this is going to drag on longer than I thought."

_Moving too slow for a fast worker like yourself, huh?_ Sonic thought to himself with a small smirk on his lips. _Welcome to the world of court buddy._

_**Additional Statement**_

I saw the defendant running back towards the scene before he caught sight of me and ran away.

_**End Additional Statement  
><strong>_

"You saw the defendant run back to the scene before running away?" Sonic repeated with a sense of both shock and curiosity in his voice. "Just for the sake of clarification, can you describe what you saw of the defendant when he came into your sights?"

"Well, I didn't quite see any facial features because I was too far from him to have seen anything," Rush explained simply. "I did see him run up to the body as if to check something out. He then saw me and began running away a second later. It was then that I saw something fall out of his coat pocket. I think it was a cellphone. When he had left, that was when I got closer to the body and confirmed that it was a phone with a black strap on it."

"A cellphone, huh?" the judge hmmed thoughtfully to himself. "And how were you able to discern that this belonged to the defendant?"

"I read the news that goes about in the daily papers. The strap had a name that spelled out Knuckles, and I remember reading an article about a rookie detective under the same name finding a key piece of evidence that ultimately would've gone unchecked where it not for his vigilant behavior."

"So that was how you figured out that the defendant was the one who probably committed the murder. I can see how his very actions could be construed as such. Does the defense have any objections to this new statement?"

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"He couldn't see the defendant's facial features, yet he was able to conclude that it was him through the cellphone that fell out of his pocket," Sonic paraphrased as he allowed the statement to mull around in his head. "There's something that just doesn't ring true with this line of logic."

"And what, pray tell, doesn't fit well with the facts?" Shadow asked with a cocky smile on his face. "I would think that the defendant's cellphone being found at the scene would be the most damning evidence against him. I highly doubt that you would have anything to counter this claim."

"Well, I stumbled across a rather interesting fact when I talked with my client yesterday during my time accepting my position as his defense attorney," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a cocky smile of his own that hardly outshined the others. "He said that he had lost his cellphone the day before the murder had occurred. There is no humanly possible way that it was the defendant who had dropped his phone at the scene!"

"Ha, as if that little fact could possibly prove anything!" the ebon furred hedgehog stated with a heavy scoff of his breath and believing the other's words to be nothing but a bluff. "The defendant could have been lying to you for the sake of his benefit. You're going to have to come up with something a lot more convincing than merely reciting the words of a killer."

"If that's the case, then I suppose I should introduce another problem this phone poses. Besides having not been in its owner's hands since the day before the murder, there should still be something left behind. I would suspect that my client has had heavy use of this being that he's a detective down at the local precinct."

"Would you please just get to the point rookie? You're starting to take up our precious time, and I'm sure you remember hearing the witness saying something about wanting to wrap this up as quickly as possible."

"Very well; if you would just carefully read the notes posted on this piece of evidence, you will see that the prints on this have been wiped clean. Not even a small trace amount of prints could've been lifted from this."

"Oomph, I didn't know anything about that!" Shadow grunted in surprise as he looked at the official forensics note posted on the projector. "What the hell was forensics thinking when they passed on the evidence notes to me? I swear, this district's handle on things is not at its highest level of performance."

"Well, I suppose then that this would work to my benefit," Sonic responded with his cocky smile now taking center stage in the courtroom. "It's clear that Knuckles is the owner of this phone thanks to the strap showing his name on it and by his own confession. Why then would he go through the trouble of wiping his prints off the phone yet forget to remove the strap in the process? It's his phone, so it would've been impossible to have remembered to try erasing his prints and then forget to get rid of the strap."

"D-damn it!" the ebon hedgehog growled out as he pulled at the edge of his white gloves in a frustrated manner. "No murderer would be that dumb to actually leave one something with their name on it."

"Exactly my point," the defense said simply. "Due to the fact that the prints were clearly wiped off and the witness could not see who it was that 'dropped' the phone, I conclude that the man this witness saw was not the defendant!"

"How dare you call me a liar?" Rush asked with great insult in his words, catching both Sonic and Tails off guard when he glared daggers at them. "I know what it was that I saw that night, and I saw the defendant run back to the scene and accidentally drop his phone before running away."

"Yet we just proved that it couldn't possibly be the defendant who could've ran back to the scene and conveniently drop his phone," Tails countered as he came to his attorney buddy's defense.

"Hmm, I already had my suspicions about this when the witness didn't say anything damning about the situation at first," the judge stated in an agreeing tone before banging his gavel to stop the exchange between the three of them. "Mr. Woker seems quite sure about the details in his testimony, yet he failed to give us the key detail about the victim. Under this light, I have great doubt on his credibility as a key witness. I'm afraid that I'll have to dismiss the prosecution's witness."

"Objection!" Shadow exclaimed in an attempt to stop the old man from making his move. "You claim to already know that my witness's testimony is not to be accepted to the court. To allow him to leave before he's even finished testifying before us would cause us to do the justice system a disservice."

"Before he's finished testifying to us? I would suppose that you mean he has something more to add to this case? But I thought it's already been established that the person he saw couldn't have been the defendant."

"That's because Mr. Woker only spoke of the second half of his recollection because of his haste to leave this courtroom," the ebon furred hedgehog stated with the smirk back on his face. "He failed to report what the things that had happened in that park before the murder in full detail. I believe that this also needs to be discussed in full detail before you fully discount his testimony."

"If what you say here is true Mr. Shadow, then I suppose it's the court's obligation to hear what the witness has to say. Very well Mr. Woker!" the judge stated with a bang of his gavel. "I ask that you please testify to us all about the events that occurred in the park before the murder. And do not leave out any details this time around, regardless if you're in a rush to get somewhere or not."

"What can I do but comply?" Rush responded with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm afraid I already missed my deadline, so I suppose I can take all the time in the world talking about this murder now."

"Does this guy only think about his work every single minute of the day?" Sonic questioned with a raise of his eyebrows. "Honestly, I don't think I've ever heard of a workaholic like Rush Woker before."

"Where there are lazy guys who hate to work, there are also work-addicted guys who just love it to death," Tails simply responded with a shrug since he had nothing better to say about it. "We just happen to be on the receiving end of a guy who prides himself in a speedy work well done and end up seeing him fail on that mantra."

"Then it sounds like we're going to have to find another small hole to widen and expose that mantra as the baseless opinion it is," the cobalt furred hedgehog stated with a determined nod of his head.

_**The Midnight Park Incident Pt. 2  
><strong>_

When I got to the park, it took three minutes of walking before I heard the murder. I never heard the sound before, but I'm sure that it was a single gunshot stealing the life of the victim. It took me only fifteen more seconds to arrive at the scene. When I got there, I momentarily saw some locks of ruby red fur and violet purple eyes shining through the full moon before he ran away. That is how I knew the murderer was the defendant.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"So you did have a chance to see the facial features of the murderer, albeit for only a short amount of time," the judge responded with a sense of intrigue resonating through his voice. "I ask that you do not withhold any information that pertains to the case. Do so again and I shall find you in contempt of court. Consider this your only warning witness."

"An empty threat is only an empty threat until the issuer decides to act upon it," Rush boldly countered, causing the judge to sputter a bit at his daring cheeky attitude. "Your warning only makes me want to try withholding information again so I can see if you're truly serious about your claim."

"Mr. Woker, I ask that you please cooperate with the court for just a little while longer," Shadow simply responded with a warning glare at his witness before the old man had a chance to say anything that would put harm to his case. "So long as there is still some crucial information within you, I must insist that you don't damn yourself within this court."

"I think you better hurry up and get on with the cross-examination before we lose our chance because of Rush's attitude Sonic," Tails advised with a sweat drop running down the back of his skull as the witness continued on with his pointless rant.

"No need to tell me twice about it Tails," Sonic responded with a nod of his head, a sweat drop also falling at the same spot on his skull. "I just hope he holds out long enough for us to even squeeze anything out of him."

"Mr. Sonic, please get on with your cross-examination so that we may be rid of this witness as soon as possible!" the judge begged slightly as he banged his gavel.

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Mr. Woker, are you sure about what it is you saw before you called the police with your cellphone?" Sonic asked again in case he could find some kind of mistake in his rather vague yet suitable description. "Did you really see some ruby red locks of fur and spikes along with violet purple eyes running away from the scene of the crime?"

"I truly hope that you are not starting to label me a liar simply because I left out this detail in my first testimony," Rush stated as if he were trying to avoid the question unbeknownst to him. "If that is your sole basis for questioning what I said now, then I suggest that you start moving on to something a lot less time consuming."

"The witness will stop talking back to the court and answer the questions directed to him unless specified not to," the judge ordered with a bang of his gavel and as warning glare to the witness. "With that said, I want you to answer the question. Did you really see the features that clearly identify the witness?"

"I swear by the light of the full moon that was out that night that I saw those two features unusual to anybody but the defendant," the witness finally answered with a scowl on his face. "It's too bad that I couldn't see anything else beyond that because of his detective coat on, but I'm sure that these two features are more than enough to identify the murderer. After all, it's definitely not every day that you see a red echidna with such unusual eye color."

"But you can hardly call that as decisive evidence on your part. For all you know, it could've been another person wearing simple costumes that copied my client's features so that they can convince whoever happened to lay eyes on him that it was the defendant running from the scene."

"I'm sorry Sonic, but I'm afraid that your argument here isn't going to hold water very well," Shadow objected without so much as raising his voice in doing so. "We found trace amounts of the victim's blood along the edges of the defendant's coat when we had forensics check it. It goes without saying that he was at the scene when the victim died, and we know due to witnesses down at the precinct that he was called down to investigate a reported disturbance that night."

"Wow, Shadow sure did his share of homework on this case," Tails said with a nod of his head in acknowledgement to the prosecution's counterargument. "He pretty much threw your idea out of the courtroom without much effort."

"Whose side are you on Tails?" the defense attorney asked with an agitated scowl directed at his little brother.

"So we established that there was a high possibility that the witness did see the defendant fleeing the scene," the judge surmised briefly. "Although it's still not exactly concrete, it's better than what we first started this case with."

"Your Honor, I would like to ask Mr. Woker another question. Namely, I want to ask him about the exact moment when he heard the murder occur. There are some things that I want to make clear before I personally jump to any conclusions of my own."

"If you feel that it might hold some relative importance to the case, then go ahead and ask by all means Mr. Sonic."

"When you were walking through the park, you claimed to have heard a sound that you figured to be a gunshot. Was there anything else during that small expansion of time that you heard besides that?"

"As it is with my eyesight, my hearing is of an exceptional nature," Rush stated proudly with a smirk on his face. "I can easily hear a pin drop inside a room with relatively loud chatter and such. All I heard at that exact moment was the sound of a single gunshot piercing through the serenity of the night sky. There was no idle chatter heard nor was there the shrill sound of the poor woman's frightened scream."

"Is there really any importance to what it was the witness heard Sonic?" the ebon furred hedgehog questioned with an annoyed shake of his head. "While it's quite natural to have not heard the victim scream at the moment the gun was shot, I hardly find anything of questionable nature within this particular portion of his testimony. You're simply forcing Mr. Woker to needlessly repeat himself."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"That's funny, because I happen to see something rather strange with his recollection of the moment of the murder," Sonic countered with a smug look on his face. "The witness claims to have only heard the sound of a single gunshot ringing throughout the park. However, this testimony itself contradicts the evidence within our procession!"

"I knew it!" Rush exclaimed as he suddenly sounded both irritated and angry. "You are claiming me to be nothing but a liar! Are you going to say now that it was impossible for me to have heard the gunshot because of some unforeseen act of god preventing me to do so at the time? Or maybe you're going to say that I had my ears plugged up with some headphones and listening to music while I walked through the park that night."

"If you would just let me say what it is that's on my mind Mr. Woker, maybe you could stop assuming what I'm going to say!" the cobalt hedgehog said through clenched teeth. Tails was trying to quickly grab the gun and bring it to the teen before he completely lost sight of his line of questioning. "If the court would read the description tagged on with this gun, you would know just where it is I'm going with this."

"This is the murder weapon that was recovered from the scene of the crime, wasn't it?" the judge questioned as he looked at the evidence being projected through the courtroom projector.

"And just what exactly is contradictory about this evidence with the testimony?" Shadow asked as he too read the note. "I can't find a single thing myself."

"Well, the witness here said that he only heard one gunshot before he ran towards the source of the sound. If you take a close look at this gun, however, you will see documented on the note attached that it's been determined that the gun had been fired twice!"

"Yes, the court notices this detail," he old man simply said with a nod of his head as if the contradiction was nothing to be getting excited over. "I hardly see the significance this has on the case, however."

"I suggest that you don't say anything else lest you want to further embarrass yourself in front of your assistant," Shadow stated in a teasing tone and an annoying wag of his finger. "While it has been proven that the gun was fired twice, there's no evidence saying that both bullets were shot on the same night. Unless you have proof that this so called second bullet was shot that night, the witness's recollection of the crime then stands."

"Oh, you got to be kidding me!" the defense attorney growled out in frustration accompanied with a small slam of the table at seeing his objection fall apart as quickly it was raised. "You don't even have any proof that the second bullet wasn't fired that night. How can you say for certain that there weren't two gun fires that night?"

"The defense does raise a valid point. Well Mr. Shadow, do you have anything to prove your claim that this second firing has nothing to do with the crime in question?"

"Unfortunately, I have nothing to make back up my claim. However, the same can be said for the defense. As far as I know, they have also yet to prove that this second firing has anything to do with the crime. On that note, I ask whether or not they have something that can tie this fact with the case?"

"Hey Sonic, what about that bullet that Vector and his group gave us yesterday with everything else?" Tails questioned in a reminding tone. "Wasn't that found at the scene of the crime?"

"Oh yeah, I kind of forgotten about that," the teen attorney admitted with a sheepish smile on his face. His little brother simply sag his shoulders in response and shot his older brother a what-the-heck glance.

"Oh, what would you do without me here helping you?" the fox asked as the cobalt hedgehog reached over the table to pick up the bullet and began reading the note on it.

"Well Shadow, if you want proof that the second firing of the gun happened at that same night, then I'll go ahead and give it to you."

"If you're going to be making bluffs, then I suggest that you try to make it a bit more convincing than that," Shadow simply answered with a shake of his head. "I just finished seeing you talking rather privately with your assistant. It didn't seem like you were talking of anything pertaining to the case, especially when you showed off that sheepish smile."

"Uh, that was just me remembering something that has nothing to do with this case. Anyway, I would like for the court to take a look at this bullet."

"Is that the bullet that was taken out of the victim's chest?" the judge asked with raised eyebrows as he looked at the piece of ammunition.

"If it pleases the court, I have the Bullet that was extracted from the victim's heart," the ebon hedgehog responded as he picked up a bag with a small bloody bullet in it for everybody to see. "For the sake of preventing confusion with these two bullets, I would like to present this as evidence."

"The court will accept it," the judge accepted the evidence before moving back to his original thought. "If I might ask you Mr. Sonic, just where was it that you managed to find this bullet?"

"Interestingly enough, it was found by the Chaotix Detective Agency lodged into a tree trunk at the scene of the crime," Sonic stated.

"That hardly proves anything," the prosecutor countered before anything else could be said. "So what if that bullet was found within reasonable distance of the scene of the crime? You still have no proof that it has anything to do with the case or that it was even fired from the murder weapon itself."

"I doubt that you'd be saying the same thing once I tell you what I figured out from this second bullet. Before it was brought to us, Prosecutor Vector had it checked out by forensics. Before I disclose the findings of the forensics, might I ask where the bullet that killed the victim came from?"

"The tests show that it came from the murder weapon," the other answered, his eyebrow raised in an uneasy manner as he had a feeling where the defense was now going with their line of questioning. "It was thankfully unmarred when it entered the body, so it was easy to tell from what it was shot out of."

"I think you finally get where I'm going with this Shadow. The bullet that you have was fired from the murder weapon. The bullet that I have was fired from the same weapon. In other words, we can now safely conclude without question that two shots were fired from this one gun at the time of the murder!"

"But that can't be right!" Rush exclaimed as he heard what was going on between both sides of the courtroom. "I distinctively remember only hearing one shot that night! There was no second shot before or after that."

This revelation caused the entire courtroom to talk amongst themselves about what it was they just heard. Even the judge himself seemed confused by the new chain of events, but he still had some control over his emotions and banged his gavel to restore some semblance of order to the courtroom.

"Order in the court!" he commanded loudly over the still chattering crowd that began to slowly die down to complete silence. "Mr. Sonic, just what is the meaning of this second bullet? Exactly what does it mean to the overall view of the case?"

"I propose the following: my client was not the one who killed the Ms. Vulpin. Rather, it was a completely different person in the park that night who fired the other bullet that stole the victim's life."

"A different person?" Shadow repeated, tightening the ends of his gloves around his wrist again. "And what makes you think that this 'second person' exists and even has anything to do with the case?"

"Because the witness practically said so in his past two testimonies," Sonic explained as he looked over at the transcripts of the past testimonies. "Remember, if you would, what he said when I asked him to describe any noticeable features when the suspect ran back to the body. He said that he couldn't 'see any facial features' due to the distance between the two. Yet if you were to compare that with what was discussed in his second testimony, he claims to have clearly seen red bangs and violet eyes when he first discovered the body. It's through this testimony that the witness was talking about two completely different people!"

"And what evidence do you have that could possibly back up this absurd claim of yours?" the ebon hedgehog countered with great doubt dripping from his voice as he balled his free hand into a fist. "I've looked at this case from every possible angle except for the one you now bring up, and I can see no possibility of somebody other than the defendant and the witness at the park that night."

"Once again, the witness's own testimony is proof of my claim. He stated quite adamantly that he had only heard one gunshot during his entire time at the park. If that's true, then this bullet in my possession should not be in existence, and yet here it is on my side of the courtroom. Your own witness's words should be more than enough to convince you that the possibility of a second person firing the bullet that stole a life that night is more than just a baseless claim."

"Humph, I suppose that there's only one way that we'll be able to clear this doubt about this supposed second person from the air. I would like to dismiss Mr. Rush Woker from the stand and call the defendant himself to the stand. I believe that we've heard enough from this witness anyway."

"So you're just going to throw me out to the curb like some useless trash and consider me a liar?" Rush questioned with a snarled facial expression as his aura suddenly took on a rather defiant change to it. "If that's the case, then I refuse to stand here and accept this. Everything that I have told you here was the exact recount of what I saw that night. It may have not exactly been the fastest due to your defense's liking to pointless questioning, but it was as efficient and informative as I said it would be."

"Mr. Woker, nobody in this court even hinted at calling you a liar," the judge stated sternly, clearly not happy with how resistant the witness was suddenly becoming for no apparent reason other than having contradictions being pointed out in his recollections. "All the defense did was point out the contradictions with your testimony in relation to the evidence. That is what he's supposed to do."

"Then he might as well have called me a bold faced liar out loud!" the witness now shouted out as he shot a dirty look at both boys on the defense side. Both gave off a sweat drop and laughed nervously at his piercing gaze. "Pointing out contradictions in what people say is the court's way of saying their witness is lying."

"That is far from the truth. However, I'm afraid that I'll have to ask you to leave the podium. Refuse to do so and I'll arrest you for contempt of court."

"I told you that your empty threats don't scare me. If you really wanted me off this podium, then you would've had the bailiff dragged me out by now."

"And it seems that I have no choice in the matter. Bailiff, arrest the witness immediately and put him in jail for contempt of court!"

"Wh-what? There's no need for you to do that," Rush suddenly said in a calmer tone, but it was already too late for him as he was grabbed forcibly by the arm and dragged out of the courtroom and straight to the courthouse jail. He then yelled out with his voice slowly dying down due to the increasing distance, "You can't go about arresting your witnesses like this without any basis. You'll be hearing from my attorney if you go through with this! I swear it! You hear me?"

"My, he's such a stubborn and spirited young man," the judge stated with a disappointed shake of his head as the shouting continued to die down until it could not be heard in the courtroom anymore. He then said with a clearing of his throat, "Anyway, I ask that the defendant now take the stand."

"I'm already here on the stand, Your Honor," Knuckles responded from his now current spot on the witness podium, something that nobody saw him go to during the small scene from Rush earlier. "All I'm waiting for now is to hear what the prosecution would like for me to testify about."

"My, someone sure sounds eager to say something to the courts," the old man stated with surprise reflecting in his eyes at how fast the detective had moved without anybody knowing. "Well Mr. Shadow, just what exactly did you want him to testify about?"

"We've heard of the witness's account of the night of the murder, so I find it only fair that we cross-examine the defendant's claim of that night," Shadow simply answered. "And besides, I want him to help clear up this confusion about this second bullet that the defense has managed to tie into this case."

"Very well, the defendant shall testify to the court about his recollection of the night in question!"

"As if I have much choice in the matter if I want to get out of this alive," the red furred echidna stated bitterly with a scowl on his face.

_**Investigating Midnight Park  
><strong>_

That night, I was assigned to investigate a reported disturbance at Midnight Park. It was a quarter after twelve when I got that call. When I got there at about half past twelve, the victim was already dead with a bullet to her chest. As a detective, I naturally approached closer in order to investigate the scene. I only got in a couple second's worth of checking when I was shot at. I quickly turned and saw a darkly dressed figure with a gun in his hand. He quickly pocketed it into his coat and began to run away. I quickly gave chase, and that was most likely what the last witness saw.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"So you say that you were already there when the gunshot the victim heard was fired," the judge summarized in as brief a sentence as possible. "The defense may begin their cross-examination now."

"If I know Knuckles, he isn't the type to beat around the bush when it comes to serious things like this," Sonic thought out loud in a tone that was only hearable to Tails. "Everything he just said was the pure and simple truth."

"Then I guess that this is really more of an excavation for information than looking to contradictions," Tails stated, sounding pretty happy at the fact that there should not be anything contradictory to the detective's testimony.

"Provided that he didn't accidentally say something that doesn't match with the evidence," the attorney added, earning him a strange questioning look from his little brother that went unanswered.

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Detective Knuckles, is it unusual for you to be responding to calls about disturbances at such a late hour?" the cobalt hedgehog began with a question.

"Not necessarily," Knuckles simply responded with a minute shrug of his shoulders. "The midnight hours of this town are usually when there are a lot of weird and illegal things tend to take place. It was unusual, however, that the call was calling about the park though. It's not known for any of those unsightly and potentially deadly night life antics of others."

"I've heard stories of what sometimes goes on in the dead of night here when I first arrived last year," Shadow responded with a small frown at the corner of his lips. "I thought that it was only a trick they liked to play on new prosecutors. I didn't think that they'd really be serious about it."

"Yes, this city does seem plagued with a lot of illegal night time activity as of late," the judge agreed with a somewhat sorrowful shake of his head. "However, we're not here to discuss of these matters. I suggest that we continue on with the cross-examination before we stray even further down our intended path here."

"Yes, Your honor," Sonic responded without any resistance as he stopped talking about the city's problems. "Besides the obvious, what did you notice when you first arrived at the park and saw the victim dead?"

"To be perfectly honest, I didn't see much of anything when I first arrived. Except for the dead body, nothing was really out of the ordinary."

"When you say that nothing was out of the ordinary, are you also claiming that you didn't hear any kind of gunshot beforehand?" Shadow asked with a raised eyebrow.

"When I said that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary, I mean that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was like any other regular old night in the park if the victim wasn't there and transforming it into a murder scene."

"Speaking of murder scene, you said that you managed to get in some checking of the victim, despite only being just a couple of seconds before you heard a gunshot. Was it enough time to notice anything?"

"Don't you think that the Autopsy Report is more than enough information for you to lie back on in terms of knowing the conditions of the victim's death?" the prosecutor objected with a small frown. "I don't see how the detective's recollection of a terribly short examination would change anything."

"I just want to make sure that there aren't any kinds of questions left unanswered. I ask that the witness be allowed to answer the question."

"The defense's question is allowed. I, too, am curious if there's anything that might help to solidify the details of the Autopsy Report," the judge stated as he banged his gavel. "Could you please add whatever you found during your short investigation?"

"If you feel that two seconds is more than enough to make a change, then I'll tell you what I remember," the detective agreed with a nod of his head.

_**Additional Statement**_

I only had enough time to place my hands on the victim's arms which was warm to the touch.

_**End Additional Statement**_

"Warm to the touch?" Sonic repeated with a raised eyebrow. "Just so I have my thoughts straight, what would that usually mean in terms of a dead victim?"

"It means that she was killed very recently in terms of when I checked her," Knuckles stated. "It was a pretty cold night then, so her body would've felt lukewarm were she killed half an hour ago. My best guess in terms of time of death was that she was killed just a couple of minutes before I stumbled upon her. Unfortunately, I can't give you anything more than that because of someone shooting a gun catching my attention and then running from the scene as I gave chase."

"And that's considering if what you say is the truth," Shadow responded with doubt in his words as he rubbed the thumb and forefinger of his right hand together in thought. "By your own testimony, you were close enough to have killed her in that park that night. I find it to be very possible that you're just making up this random gun shooter."

"If that's what you claim, then how about you show some evidence to back that up Shadow?" the cobalt hedgehog countered. All he received in response was a low growl and nothing else beyond the claim.

"Regardless of who shot her, I highly believe that the possibility of her being killed just before the defendant stumbled upon her is rather great," the judge stated, seemingly convinced that the addition was the truth.

"Wait a minute Sonic," Tails whispered to the attorney as something crossed his mind. "Knuckles just said that Ms. Vulpin was killed give or take a couple of minutes before he found her. If that's the case, then he should've been able to hear the gunshot that took her life. Being two minutes away is more than close enough to hear something like that, especially in a relatively deserted park."

"Hey, you do have a point there," the teen responded, slightly surprised that his little brother was able to catch that when he could not. "He should've been able to hear that first gunshot. Then that means this second shot ended up hitting the tree where this bullet we have was found."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"I believe we've heard enough from the defendant," the judge suddenly said as he banged at his gavel. "We've learned that Ms. Vulpin was killed just a couple of minutes before he found her dead."

"And that's only assuming that it all happened exactly as he said it did," Shadow stated in a doubtful tone as he looked down at his evidence. "I still believe that he created this story so that we could be fooled into believing that he's innocent."

"Yet he was your witness that you summoned," the old man reminded the ebon hedgehog with a raised eyebrow. "If you thought that he was simply going to come up with a lie to make himself out to be innocent, then why allow him to testify?"

"Because I wanted to know what he had to say about the night in question. That and I was hoping that he would've been able to solve the mystery about the second bullet. I guess I only got the first half of my question answered."

"I would like to ask the witness one more question before he leaves the stand," Sonic spoke up before the judge officially ended the cross-examination.

"Just one more, Mr. Sonic. I feel that we're starting to simply repeat what we heard from Mr. Woker's testimony right now, so I don't feel that we should use any more time with this witness."

"Thank you. Detective Knuckles, do you mind telling me how long you've been in that park looking for this disturbance you were called in for?"

"I was in that park for a good ten or so minutes," Knuckles answered as he looked a bit thoughtful at the question. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I wanted to know how it would affect one of the statements you made in your testimony," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a smile on his face as he finally found something that should help his case. "You said earlier that the victim had died just a couple of minutes before you stumbled upon her. Do you stand by what you said?"

"The only time I would pull back what I said is when I'm not sure," the red echidna stated bluntly with his arms crossed. "If you think that I'm going to pull back from what I said, then you're sorely mistaken."

"I thought you would say that. If that's the case, then I'd like you to answer me a simple question. Why was it that you failed to hear the victim's murder in that relatively abandoned park that night?"

"Just what are you getting at Sonic?" Shadow asked before the echidna had a chance to answer. "Besides wasting our time, I don't see what this pointless question has anything to do with the case. What does it matter whether or not he heard the shot that killed the victim?"

"It matters quite a lot Shadow. If you think about it real carefully, it's impossible that he should've completely missed the telltale sound of a gunshot echoing throughout that park! He said it himself that he was there for a good ten minutes and that Ms. Vulpin was dead for only a couple!"

"Oh no!" the prosecutor gasped as he clearly overlooked that detail, a detail that could easily blow a hole in his case.

"I don't quite understand what's going on here," the judge stated as he had a confused look on his face. "Mr. Sonic, could you please explain to the court exactly what it is that you mean by this?"

"What I'm saying here is what I've been proclaiming all along, my client is not the killer. Rather, it was somebody else who also happened to be at the park that night."

"And just who is it that you're proclaiming that was at the park that night?" Shadow asked, the corners of his lips twitching a bit in irritation. "Tell us who it is that we should be suspecting if not the defendant."

"Shouldn't it be obvious to you? This other person is the one that my client said shot the second bullet and that he chased. The last time I checked, he's an unknown to this entire case, and he's most likely the real killer in this case. And until we manage to figure out who this person is, I conclude that a verdict cannot be reached at this time!"

"Whether or not there's a verdict today, there's still a couple of questions that you have failed to answer," the prosecutor responded, tightening the end of his glove so much that it almost ripped. "While you have proven that two bullets were shot that night, you failed to successfully explain this unheard murderous shot. How is it that the defendant couldn't have heard this first shot when he was clearly close enough to the scene to have heard it?"

"Uh, I don't really have an answer to that yet," Sonic responded with a slightly sheepish smile on his face. He quickly recovered from the awkwardness, however, by countering back with a bit of his own logic. "Just because I don't know the answer doesn't mean that a verdict should be made now. In order to answer these unanswerable questions, I ask of the court to extend this case into the next day. With it, we should be able to procure the desired answers to this day's questions."

"And what about this other confliction? The murder weapon fired off both bullets found at the murder scene. And according to the defendant's testimony, the person who shot the second bullet ran with the gun on him. How is it then that the gun found its way to the crime scene once more?"

"Um, uh, well...," the cobalt hedgehog panicked, trying to find an answer suitable enough to stave off the counterattack. "Shouldn't it be obvious? The murderer... He...came back to the scene sometime after the crime had been committed."

"And how, pray tell, would that have been possible? The witness himself said that he stayed at the scene until the police arrived. Even the first responders corroborated with his testimony. Nobody ever approached the crime scene until the police arrived."

"If you put in into those context, then it's true that nobody touched the crime scene before the police arrived," Tails suddenly spoke up, quickly coming to his brother's rescue. "However, if we took out the fact that they were police officers, then it would change how we would be able to see the investigation."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're saying," the judge asked with eyebrows raised in question. "What is the defense's assistant trying to say here?"

"Well, we all agree that police officers and detectives are higher up on the chain of command in terms of regular citizens," the fox explained, keeping his eyes on Shadow as said hedgehog watched him with intrigued eyes. "However, if you take away the fact that they are officers of the law, then they are just ordinary citizens like me and the audience in this courtroom. With that in mind, how can you say for certain that nobody had a chance to approach the scene and modify it?"

"Y-you're seriously not suggesting what it is that I think you're suggesting are you?" the prosecutor stuttered a bit as he caught on at where Tails was heading with his line of logic. "I'm all for coming up with logical explanations, but what you're thinking is far and beyond the deep end."

"Just because they're police doesn't mean that they're automatically granted immunity from trying to influence a crime scene. What I'm suggesting here is that it was one of the officers who came back to the scene under the guise of investigating in order to plant the gun and not raise suspicions. The real murderer must be one of the first responders!"

Upon hearing this claim, everybody was shocked into complete silence. Even Sonic himself was amazed at how his little brother's mind worked in instances like this. It never did occur to him that the murderer could have been a member of the police, and it was definitely because of the premonition everybody had of them. Put into the context that the fox had placed it, however, and the thought of it happening was more than possible.

"Uh, that's...quite a bold claim the defense makes on this matter," the judge was the first to speak up, his shock still clear in his words. "Although highly unlikely, I must admit that such a thing happening has the smallest amounts of possibilities. And while it might not be the biggest lead we have, I must have the police department question every officer and detective involved with the first response of the case.

"And while I take care of that, I will call on a suspension of this trial," the old man continued on as the entire court continued to be silent, both from shock and in respect to the judge. "Both the defense and prosecution will work on procuring more evidence that answer the questions the defense has brought up. Most importantly, we need to know why it was the first shot wasn't heard when the defendant himself was close enough to have heard it. That is all for today. Court is adjourned.

And with a heavy bang of his gavel, the judge had officially ended the court proceedings for the day. He then got up from his chair and left the room, the rest of the court quickly following suit.

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Autopsy Report: A report documenting the key details surrounding Ms. Vulpin's death. She was shot straight in the heart with a single bullet. Her death was immediate. Her estimated time of death is around 12 to 12:30.

Bullet 2: The bullet that was extracted from the victim's heart. Besides the blood, it looks unmarred and in pristine condition. The markings show that it was fired from the same gun that the first bullet was shot from.

**Updated Evidence:**

Bullet: Found lodged in a tree somewhere near the crime scene. It was the bullet fired after the first firing by the proposed murderer. It's currently unknown as to why this one was clearly heard when the first shot wasn't.

**New Profiles:**

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog with fur that's as dark as the world's blackest midnight with occasional ruby red streaks lining his quills. He's the prosecutor in charge of overseeing the prosecution of the case. He started his career at the age of sixteen, a feat made possible due to his studies abroad where the prosecuting age is a couple of years less than this country.

Teela Vulpin: A twenty-five-year-old woman who worked as a simple waitress at a local busy diner. In her line of work, her ears sometimes picks up on things that are better left unknown. She's the victim in this case.

Rush Woker: A thirty year old man who tends to revere hard work over everything else. He always prefers that things get done right the first time around in a quick manner so as to avoid any kind of wasteful redundancy. This usually results in his constant temper and attitude problems when talking with others. He claims to have witnessed Knuckles killing the victim.


	5. Under the Midnight Moon Pt 3

Hello everybody! Here's the third installment to this second case. Things are starting to come together in this chapter, and it'll hopefully be enough to help Sonic and Tails steer things down the right path and end this on the right note.

It sure took me a while to work out what it is that I might want to use as evidence on the next chapter. You really got to hand it to the people who create the storyline for these mystery games like Phoenix Wright. Just imagine how much work they have to do just to make sure they don't contradict themselves unless they really mean to. And then they have to think ahead on what they want to have happen and which evidence should be used where.

Anyway, I hope that you like this new chapter. I also decided to put in an element that would help with Sonic's investigation that's solely used by Tails. I didn't want him to be just a bystander following the hedgehog around for no good apparent reason. Also, with the evidence that was updated in the last chapter, that updated description will stick with the rest of the case until another update, if any, comes to replace that.

Also, when it came up with the witness's name, it was just a hell of a random moment there. I was busy doing homework, so I got Woker as a name; and I was also watching Star Gate: Universe, hence the name Rush after the scientist on the ship Nicholas Rush. Yeah, a real random moment there.

Until the next update everybody!

* * *

><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Nobody would believe that Sonic was one if he didn't have it pinned proudly upon his chest. He proved that he was deserving of it despite his age after successfully completing his first career case.

Handgun: The murder weapon in the killing at the park. It is a precinct issue wielded by the detectives. Both the prints and the serial number connecting it to its owner have been wiped clean. It shows signs of being fired twice.

Crime Scene Photo: Shows the scene of the murder before Vector and his detective gang collected the evidence. A handgun is seen lying abandoned a few feet away from the body; a fiery red cell phone is seen on the ground a few inches from the victim's open right hand. It also shows a single gunshot wound to the chest above the heart.

Bullet: Found lodged in a tree somewhere near the crime scene. It was the bullet fired after the first firing by the proposed murderer. It's currently unknown as to why this one was clearly heard when the first shot wasn't.

Red Cell Phone: Belongs to Knuckles. He says he lost it the day before the murder and that it couldn't have been found anywhere near the crime scene. It has a black strap that has its owner's name on it. The prints have been wiped.

Autopsy Report: A report documenting the key details surrounding Ms. Vulpin's death. Her estimated time of death is around 12 to 12:30. She was shot straight in the heart with a single bullet. Her death was immediate.

Bullet 2: The bullet that was extracted from the victim's heart. Besides the blood, it looks unmarred and in pristine condition. The ballistic markings show that it was fired from the same gun that the second bullet was shot from.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. Passed the bar exam with flying colors, allowing him to earn his Attorney's Badge a year earlier than normal. Has a likable and confident attitude about him, but sometimes gets nervous when in the courtroom. He's Tails' adoptive big brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He spends most of his time in the Robotnik Law Firm where Sonic works making sure the place stays relatively clean. He doesn't go to school because of the school board recognizing his brilliant mind surpassing even the most advanced high school work.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not.

Knuckles Echidna: The defendant in this case and Sonic and Tails' friend. He is an eighteen-year-old detective who works at the local precinct and is apparently good friends with Prosecutor Vector. He has been accused of murdering a woman found shot to death in the local park.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog with fur that's as dark as the world's blackest midnight with occasional ruby red streaks lining his quills. He's the prosecutor in charge of overseeing the prosecution of the case. He started his career at the age of sixteen, a feat made possible due to his studies abroad where the prosecuting age is a couple of years less than this country.

Teela Vulpin: A twenty-five-year-old woman who worked as a simple waitress at a local busy diner. In her line of work, her ears sometimes picks up on things that are better left unknown. She's the victim in this case.

Rush Woker: A thirty year old man who tends to revere hard work over everything else. He always prefers that things get done right the first time around in a quick manner so as to avoid any kind of wasteful redundancy. This usually results in his constant temper and attitude problems when talking with others. He claims to have witnessed Knuckles killing the victim.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Under the Midnight Moon Pt. 3<strong>

"Boy, that definitely wasn't how I thought I'd be leaving the courtroom today," Sonic said with a sigh. He was now back at the Robotnik Law Firm office and sitting on one of the couches and relaxing. "I still don't understand how you managed to come up with such a crazy idea like that Tails."

"But you got to admit that it's a pretty good hunch on my part," Tails answered from inside the kitchen as the sound of a few pots clanging were heard. "Seriously, just because they're part of the police doesn't mean that they didn't try anything funny at the crime scene like planting evidence and all that good illegal stuff."

"But the police aren't really the type of people to go fabricating evidence right at the scene where so many people could see them do it," the hedgehog countered with another sigh and a shake of his head. He did enjoy having his little brother's opinion on matters like this, but that sometimes meant that he would have to listen to ideas that most relatively sane people would disagree with him on. "To be real honest with you, I was more than surprised when the judge actually went ahead and agreed with what you said and ordered that all of the first responders that night be checked out. I thought that he might've gone off on you about how much of a scandal this was going to make regardless if it's true or not."

"I must admit that I was amazed he didn't go chewing me out about how crazy my proposal sounded," the two tailed fox responded as he came out with a couple cans of soda in his hands. "However, I did learn from all those criminal justice textbooks that you were supposed to have read when you were in high school that I should never sound like I had doubts about what I'm about to say if you want to get my point across. Didn't you read that part of your book for studying purposes?"

"I didn't think that it would be that important in terms of the tests that they like to give us at the end of almost every single week," the rookie attorney responded in a defensive tone as he took one of the cans and popped it open before taking a quick sip of the bubbly drink. He then said after letting out a rather obnoxious burp, "And besides, they never did say anything about studying that particular portion of the book. And who told you to go snooping around in my stuff in the first place?"

"Hey, I was bored at home that day when you were at school taking what was supposed to be both a school test and the state bar exam," the fox responded as he shook his head at his older brother's disgusting and childish behavior. "I had to do something to keep myself from dying of boredom, and that book was just lying around at the time. I always heard you complain about how boring it was and just had to see if it really was or if it was just you saying it. It turns out that it was just you saying it."

"Jeez, thanks for saying that I'm nothing but a lazy guy who doesn't like to study out of a very dense book. If you looked at the entire book, you would know that a good chunk of that boring stuff is stuff that usually involves common sense. And just out of curiosity, how far did you manage to read before I officially ditched it?"

"I didn't really get too far with it. I think I only read about five or so chapters before you came home and told me that you passed the test. I kind of really only remember the details of the middle chapters though."

"And you call reading five chapters in a few hours not too far? If I remember correctly, that book had about twenty or so chapters in it, each of them about ten or so pages long and filled with all those stupid technical questions. You practically read a fourth of that damn thing in like four or so hours. You either must have been really bored that day or found something insanely interesting with the whole thing."

Before they could continue on with their rather pointless conversation, they heard a rather loud knock from their door. It was soon accompanied by a somewhat high pitch voice that they remembered hearing when they were at the detention center yesterday.

"Hey guys; are you in there?" the voice of Charmy asked as he continued to knock away at the door. "I got the thing that you guys were asking for yesterday. Come on, I'm sure you guys are in there. Don't go playing the 'I'm not home' game with me."

Without saying or making much noise besides a small sigh, Tails walked towards the door after setting his still unopened can on the coffee table. Despite having only known the little bee since yesterday afternoon, he felt like he knew him since forever. It was most likely that energetic voice that caused him to feel that way. When he finally got to the door, he opened it and the other suddenly came flying through in less than a second later.

"It's about time you opened up that door," the hyper bee responded in an annoyed tone despite having really only waiting just about five or so seconds. "I was beginning to wonder if you guys thought I was some kind of gun toting stranger or something and didn't want me coming in anytime soon."

"...Yeah, that's quite an imagination you got there little buddy," Sonic said with a raised eyebrow as he awkwardly took another sip from his coke. This time around, he resisted the urge of making another obnoxious burp and kept his mouth closed when he did it. "It takes time for us to get to the door from here, you know?"

"Yeah, like two minutes is how long you can get off your sorry behind just to get to the door," the little guy said with a huff of his breath. It was clear that his hyper attitude was the main focus for his rather bold and impatient behavior. That and probably some over dosage of sugar were to blame as well. "Anyway, I got something for you guys. Old Vector managed to pull some strings and get you guys permission to get into the park."

"He actually managed to get us into Midnight Park?" Tails asked as he closed the door before seeing his can suddenly get snatched off from the table and become property of Charmy. He was about to raise an objection to it, but the little guy had quick fingers and was already downing a good portion of the soda before he could even say a word.

"I'm guessing that the white paper in your hand is the written consent from whoever it was he asked," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he tried to ignore the obsessive drinking and saw said paper in the process. The other simply nodded his head with the drink still in his mouth and handed it to the attorney. "I'm guessing that it was pretty easy for him to get being that he's a prosecutor and all that."

"Oh, you have no idea how hard it was for the big guy to get written permission on that piece of paper," the bee finally said as he placed the can on the table, its contents half gone. "He had to pull a few strings here and there and promise our detective services in the next case the detectives get. He'd usually be caught dead before he gave his services for free to anybody, but this time was special because of Knuckles being in trouble here."

"Sounds like a pretty heavy string for someone like him to pull," Tails stated as he went into the kitchen to probably grab himself another drink since his first one was practically hijacked. "Well, could you please thank him for us when you get back? This'll really help us with the investigation."

"Us, you say?" the little detective repeated as he momentarily stared at the fox with questioning eyes. "So you're also taking part in investigating this case? Wow, I didn't think someone as young as you would be able to handle something like this?"

"You're one to talk to, you know?" the attorney countered as he read over the paper with passive eyes before folding it. "I'm guessing that you're probably no older than six yet you're practically working an adult job as a detective."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. I like to think that age has nothing to do with how good I can do the job. Anyway, I better get going now. Vector wanted me to do a couple of things after I delivered this. See you around guys!"

And before the other two had a chance to say anything else, Charmy had flown towards the door with a slight humming of his wings and exited the office, leaving the door open on his way out in the process.

"Sounds like he just left," the two tailed fox stated in an obvious fashion as he exited the kitchen with a new can of soda in his hand. He quickly put it down on the table, however, when he saw the door open and went over to close it. "He sounds like a good guy, yet he seems to have a bit of a cocky attitude to him."

"Don't go closing that door Tails," Sonic suddenly spoke up as he got up from his seated position and threw his now empty can in a nearby trashcan. He also took the new can off the table and walked over towards the door with the paper in his hand. "I think it best that we start moving on with some detective work of our own. We only have until tomorrow morning to check out some more evidence and talk to other people who might be able to give us some more information on this case before court starts. And besides, I kind of want to talk to that Rush guy down at the detention center again."

"Why would you want to talk that that short-tempered guy who likes to rush things a lot?" the two tailed fox asked with a raised eyebrow as he took the can handed to him before moving to grab a simple cobalt blue backpack that he used to use when he was still attending school. "Besides helping us prove that there were two gunshots that night, all he really did was kind of waste everybody's time."

"Well, you never know when there might've been something that we forgot to ask him or didn't have a chance to otherwise in court. Either way, it never hurt to try to get more information for the hell of it. And while we're kind of on the subject of doing otherwise stupid things, why are you taking your backpack with you? You aren't planning to start going to college now, are you?"

"I'm thinking that we might run into some things that could be evidence when we go to check out the park. If we do, then it's good that we have something that we can put them in instead of walking everywhere with them in our hands."

"That actually does make a whole lot of sense," the cobalt hedgehog stated with a nod of his head before he exited the office and waited for the other to follow suit. Once they were both out, he locked the door behind him and placed the keys into the backpack. "Now where do you think we should go first? Should we go check out Midnight Park, or do we pay a visit to Rush Woker down at the detention center?"

"Well, maybe we should go visit Mr. Woker first," the fox suggested as they walked down the hallway and towards the exit of the building complex the business was situated in. "If he really does have something important that could help us, then we'd most likely be able to connect it with something at the park. That way, we won't have to keep going back and forth and waste money with cab fares."

"Alright then, it looks like it's time for us to go and ask our witness a couple more important questions," the attorney said with a kind of excitement in his tone. "Let's just hope he's not as stubborn as he was in court and that we'll get somewhere."

Once they were both outside, they were greeted with the everyday common sounds that the streets usually had. This included the slight zooming sounds of passing cars and some other people walking by them with some talking with each other. They both ignored these sounds and moved towards the curb edge. With his hand waving, Sonic attempted and managed to flag down a yellow taxi that stopped right next to them. He opened the back door and allowed his little brother to go in first before he went inside himself.

"Sonic, what do you think Shadow's doing right now?" Tails asked once the other had told the driver where it was they wanted to go.

"He's probably doing the same thing we're doing right now, trying to further investigate this case," Sonic replied as he sat back on the leather seat. "As much as I like him doing that, I hate that he's doing it so as to prove Knuckles guilty."

"Uh, I wasn't talking about the case, you know?" the young fox clarified. "I was asking about what he was doing in his personal life and all that?"

"And how am I supposed to know about something like that?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with a simple shrug of his shoulders as if it were not his problem to think about. "I didn't get much of a chance to ask him anything not regarding the case today, and I don't think I'll have much of a chance to talk to him tomorrow."

"Well, maybe we'll be able to talk to him after the case is preferably over in our favor. It's been a little over two years now since we last talked to him before he moved out of country. I didn't think that he'd actually become a prosecutor and come back here to work. I knew that he tended to be a bit serious, but I never really saw him working in a courtroom setting. I wonder what made him go for that."

"I think I can take a good guess at that," the young defense attorney responded with a small sigh that was reminiscent in nature. "I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to try his best to study law for the same reasons as me. Like me, he probably couldn't forget about what happened to us a couple months before he left. It's not really the easiest of things to forget about, you know?"

"You still remember about that incident, do you? That was definitely the darkest days of our lives there. Thankfully for me, I was out cold for a good portion of the ordeal, so I don't know much about the whole thing there. On the other hand, you two and Knuckles know what happened there. I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised that all three of you decided to take on jobs that have to deal with law."

"We're just trying to find answers about why that day happened in our own way I guess. I just started my job, so I have nothing to really say about it. I've kept in close contact with Knuckles ever since he became a detective, and he hasn't found anything worthwhile about it. I guess Shadow's the only one of us left who might've been able to figure something out about that day, being that he's been working as a prosecutor here for a year."

"Well, you can ask him once the case is over, considering that he isn't too busy after this being too hard on himself for losing to you. If I remember correctly, he always had this competitive streak to him that made him always want to win at everything he did. You were the only one who could ever officially beat him at mostly anything."

For about a half an hour, the two brothers were reminiscing about how things used to be when Shadow and Knuckles hanged out with them without work having to get in their way. They soon arrived back at the Detention Center where they had first visited yesterday, although that was under the suggestion of Knuckles. This time, they were here of their own volition wanting to visit the witness in the murder case.

After they spent a couple of seconds talking with the secretary and signing themselves in as per the center's regulations, she directed them to where the both of them would be allowed to meet with and talk to Rush once he was brought from where he was being held. They thanked her and started heading to the indicated room. Once there, they noticed that the case witness was already there waiting for them to show up.

"Ah, it's you two again," the man stated with a tone that held emotion while hinting at nothing at the same time. "You're the ones who got me in this place by saying that I was a liar during my testimony. Have you come here to laugh in front of my face for successfully putting my entire schedule off its intended track?"

"With all due respect Mr. Woker, we didn't come here to laugh about anything," Sonic stated in a serious tone as wanted to set the tone up right in order to get some more potential information out of him. "What we really came here was to ask you a couple of questions that we didn't have a chance to ask you in court this morning."

"And what more could you possibly want to have dragged out of my mouth? I've already told you everything that I know and saw that night, so unless you want to know every single little detail that led up to that moment that I was there, I'm afraid that you wasted your precious time coming down here."

"Please sir, an innocent life hangs in the balance," Tails stated in as calm of a tone he could muster despite already getting annoyed with the conversation before they even were a minute into it. "Because of that, we want to clarify a couple of things that were mentioned in your testimony. Unless we really have to, we're not going to be asking you any new questions. Is that good enough for you?"

"It's not like I even have much of a choice in the matter here. Very well, what do you want to ask me about?"

"For starters, I want to clarify once again what it is that you saw that night," Sonic stated, finally feeling like they were going somewhere. "There are still some things that we still don't have the answers to."

"I already told the court everything that I saw that night. I saw that detective running from the scene when I found the body."

"And what was your reasoning that he was the murderer? Was it simply because he was running from the scene and the fact that his cellphone was found there?"

"That's exactly right. I've stayed right next to that body the entire time when I made that call to the police, and I had some time to check out the area around it. I remember every little detail that was there as clear as day."

"Then do you mind if we asked you about what you remember seeing?" the fox asked as he actually took out a pencil and paper from his backpack and was ready to take notes. He was truly ready for anything that might have come their way.

"I thought you said that you weren't going to be directing me to questions that weren't asked during the court proceedings," Rush reminded them with an arch of his eyebrow. "You can continue pressing the issue on me all you like, but I refuse to say to talk about anything that hasn't been discussed in court this morning."

"But that's being unreasonable," Sonic stated as he tried to reason with the man. "Just because it's a question different from that in court doesn't mean that we're not permitted to ask you something else off the record. To be perfectly honest, what you say here can be used in court provided it has been properly documented. And besides, we said we might ask you some new questions if we really needed to."

"I'm sorry, but you're not going to get anything out of me," the man said as he started to act as defiant as he was before he got himself arrested in court. "What you're asking is most likely not even going to be related to the case anyway."

"Hey Sonic," Tails whispered to the hedgehog, giving him a small nudge in the ribs to obtain his full attention. "Why don't you let me take a shot at this guy? Maybe I can get him to talk with a little line of logic that even he can't dodge."

"Do you really think that you can get him to talk?" the hedgehog whispered back, his eyes reflecting some hint of uncertainty. "You saw me try, and look where it got me. He might as well be a rock trying to swim in the ocean."

"Just give me a chance here," the two tailed fox whispered back before he raised his voice back to a normal speaking tone. "Mr. Woker, do you mind telling us why it is you feel that what we're going to ask you isn't even worth asking before we even ask it?"

"My, that's such a confusing line of words you threw at me in the end there. No matter. If you're not going to be appeased until I give you an ample reason, then I might as well produce one for you."

_**Argument: Staying Quiet  
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What point is there in me telling you something that doesn't help with your case? I don't need to know what you're asking in order to know it leads to nothing. You're just trying to find ways to get your client off the hook. I simply refuse to be a part of a possible conspiracy act between you two. Unless you can prove to me something new that I didn't hear in court, my lips are going to be sealed.

_**End Argument**_

"Oh, can you be anymore stubborn than you are now?" Sonic asked rhetorically with an aggravated sigh. "This is the exact same kind of attitude that landed you behind this piece of glass in the first place. And don't you think that you're over exaggerating a bit when you say that we're planning something illegal here?"

"Hey, just because you're a servant of the law doesn't mean that you would try to break said laws just to get your way," Rush responded with a smug look on his face as he accused the two of manipulating the law without directly saying it. "I've heard instances of it being done before, and I wouldn't put it past you that you're trying to find something baseless and blow it out of proportions."

"How about I just go ahead and ask you a couple of things regarding your argument just now?" Tails suggested with a sort of sheepish smile as he tried to move away from the tender topic. "We both know that we didn't come here just to argue about things that you don't know to either be true or false. And if it makes you feel any better, it doesn't have anything to do with the case, so you should be able to talk to us."

"Alright, I'll go ahead and humor you," the man conceded with a small sigh and a shake of his head. "I still believe that this is all but a waste of precious time that you could spend on something more productive."

"And here's where I try to work out some logic," the little fox whispered to the hedgehog who was kind of in the background watching things unfold. "Let's just hope that what I learned from your textbooks will be enough to get me through this."

"I don't care how you do it, just get this over with as quickly as possible," the cobalt hedgehog whispered back to his little brother as he distanced himself from the two. "I don't know how much longer I can handle this guy's sickeningly stubborn attitude that couldn't even compare with Knuckles'."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"If you don't mind me saying Mr. Woker, your reasons for not wanting to even hear out our new question for you on the case is highly unreasonable," Tails started his rebuttal in a serious tone. He wanted the feel to be almost like a courtroom so as to achieve the highest results possible. That and he kind of wanted to show Sonic that he would be able to help get Knuckles out of trouble in his own way. "I hardly think that you have anything to be rushing to right now seeing as you're stuck here in jail."

"Unless the company your work for decided to actually give you some paperwork to work on in here, I don't really see anything you would be so eager to be getting back to," Sonic added with a kind of huff of his breath as he leaned against the table a bit while trying to watch what his little brother was trying to do.

"Well, life is always full of things that we as individuals want to have over with as soon as possible," Rush simply responded in a monotonous tone as if this talk was beginning to bore him. "In this case, I'm in a hurry to get out of this place that I don't belong in. You'd think that they'd at least allow me some more room to pace around in besides that concrete shoebox they pass off for a cell."

"I'm sure that jail cells weren't originally built with the comfort of their intended inhabitants in mind," the two tailed fox countered rather weakly being that he was not arguing about jail comforts in the first place. "Making it akin to that of a famous Ritz Carleton Hotel would completely defeat the purpose of even wanting to create this place for incarcerating people. Anyway, what reason do you have to think that what we want to ask you will offer no help whatsoever to our case?"

"Because as it has been proven in court, I didn't see the actual moment that the murder occurred," the man simply stated without much change in his voice. "Rather, I only heard the event take place. Because of this reasoning, I can hardly see how that qualifies as a reason to be asking me more questions I most likely have no answer to. Not that I mean to injure anybody's feelings here, but you're both simply wasting your time and acting like a couple of stupidly bumbling idiots in the process."

"Alright, you just crossed the line from becoming annoying to just plain infuriating!" the cobalt hedgehog spoke up with a strong bite of anger in his tone as his aggravation was starting to get the better of him. And if anybody that might have been around him did not get the hint from his voice, then his would have clearly given even a blind man ample opportunity to sense his immense dissatisfaction at the situation. "I don't know what you're doing here Tails, but you better get on with it quickly before I go through this plate glass and punch him right in the nose! I'm serious, he's really asking for it right now!"

"Calm down Sonic; getting angry isn't going to help anybody here," Tails stated calmly as he tried to not look at his brother's most likely blazing eyes. "That and threatening him is just going to make things worse." He then shifted his full attention back at the man on the other side of the glass. "Mr. Woker, what can I possibly do in order to convince you that what we want to ask you has relevancy to our case?"

"Well, you can start by telling or showing me something that I failed to see during my time in the court. I was unfortunately kicked out rather unceremoniously before the supposed next witness was to take the stand. If you tell or show me anything new that came up during that time, then I might be inclined to tell you more. Anything short of that, and I'll stay quiet no matter how hard you push or badger me. If you can't, then I suggest that you leave now and spare all of us this needless trouble."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"If that's how you really feel about it, then I guess I can only just play along with it," Tails stated with a sigh and shrug of his shoulders. "After you were unceremoniously kicked out of the courtroom this morning, the court heard the defendant's testimony. It was through it that we figured out something that sheds a new light to the entire case. What I'm getting here is that there's a possibility of someone else murdering the victim."

"And how was it that you proposed this theory be turned into a controversial opinion?" Rush questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Did the detective say something along the lines of someone else running away from the scene that I happened to miss?"

"You hit it right on the nose, Mr. Woker," the fox responded. "Knuckles said that he saw somebody running away from him right when the second shot that you heard was fired. I would suspect that you only had the capacity to see the defendant running because the other was already a good distance away."

"And how is that supposed to be of any importance?" the witness questioned, clearly feeling that this was becoming very redundant. "I would suppose that you somehow managed to convince the judge this was true or you wouldn't be talking to me about this now. Do you mind telling me how it was proven?"

"Before we do that, I need to ask you a question about what you saw at the scene. Can you describe what it was you saw around the victim's body?"

"I already told you that all I saw was that red phone next to the victim. There was nothing else of suspicious nature around her."

"Well, I think we finally got something cleared up here Sonic," Tails stated in a proud voice. Sonic simply looked at his little brother with amazement at how he managed to smoothly move the argument into their favor while dragging information out of him at the same time. "Mr. Woker, I believe you when you say that you saw only the phone at the scene. If you think about it, however, don't you find it funny that something very important is missing? And before you say anything, I'm talking about the murder weapon."

"Th-the murder weapon?" Rush repeated as he finally realized what it was he had just said. "Are you saying that was missing from the crime scene?"

"I'm seeing now that you're finally catching on with what I'm thinking of here. If you really stood by the body the entire time since you first discovered it, then Sonic shouldn't have been able to present the murder weapon to you during your testimony to pose a contradiction. I'll ask you one more time; did you really stay by that body the entire time after you made that call to the police?"

"O-of course I did; the police can attest to the fact that I was at the scene when they arrived," the man stated with a small stutter, clearly shaken at the fact that he had failed to notice the absence of a gun at the scene. "They found nothing to have been altered from its original position while I was waiting for them to show."

"And that's where the problem in our case lies," Sonic spoke up as he realized what this testimony meant. "Something was clearly altered at the scene of the crime that night. You didn't see anything nearby that could even resemble a gun, and Knuckles said that the person he chased had the gun on him when he ran. Put the two together, and we can safely conclude that the gun wasn't initially at the scene when the police arrived."

"But then what is that supposed to mean? I hardly think that the police would have anything to gain by... Hold on a second!"

"I think you finally figured out the whole story now. How would it be that a member of the police would be able to get their hands on the murder weapon if there had been no previous reports of it being turned in even anonymously at the station? The only reasonable conclusion we can draw from this is that someone in the force has ties with the murderer, or the murderer himself is a police officer or a local precinct detective. And to narrow things down even further, we can only suspect those who were first responders to the scene since that's the only time when overall security around the body would be lax enough for anyone to conveniently plant rather incriminating evidence without discovery."

"Then...then my assumption on who the murderer was has been...!"

"It's been wrong the entire time as I've been trying to prove from the moment you first set foot in court!" the cobalt hedgehog finished off the stunned man's sentence with excitement bubbling within him. "Even you can't continue on with your stubborn farce with what Tails has explained to you just now!"

"...It seems as though this is one of those rare moments where my habit to perform a quick yet efficient job has backfired on me," Rush growled out as he reluctantly admitted that he had been proven wrong on his account of the crime. "Good show, little fox. You certainly know how to utilize the powers of speech and direct it to a logically proven conclusion. That's quite a feat for someone as young as you."

"Yes, your thoughts on who you thought was the murderer was wrong on all accords," Tails responded in a tone that showed he was not trying to rub anything in. "However, I'm not saying that you did not see the murderer at all that night. You said that the person you saw coming during or after you called the police was our client. And now that we're clear that the murderer couldn't have been him, then it only goes to say that the second person you saw was the murderer him or herself."

"Then why would he come back only to just run away once again?" Sonic asked as he recalled what was heard during court. "Oh, he probably did that to go and plant the phone at the crime scene. It would make it one less thing for an officer to conveniently discover at the scene."

"That's the same thought I ended up coming up with, too. However, I think that he only had time to plant one thing being that he wasn't counting on Mr. Woker to still be hanging around for such a long period of time."

"I would like to ask something of you two," the man said as he finally calmed down somewhat after being thoroughly beaten by someone so much younger than him. "I seem to recall during the session that a detective agency collected some of the evidence on scene. I would suspect that they did so after I notified the police, right?"

"I don't see any other way that they could've collected the evidence," the fox answered. "They gave it to us about four in the afternoon yesterday in this very place. Why do you ask?"

"So the police had yet to collect the evidence when they first arrived at the scene. Then that does give an officer or detective ample time to plant a weapon there."

"And so you're saying that the gun was already planted there when the Chaotix Detective Agency went there to investigate and collect evidence," the attorney concluded. "I guess the first responders to the crime scene aren't well equipped to go collecting things that are there. That still doesn't answer the question as to who were the first responders."

"I guess that's something that we might be able to figure out once we get to the park and check things out there. Thank you Mr. Woker for letting us talk with you again. You don't know how much of a help you've been to us today."

"Although it was somewhat tedious for my tastes at times, I must admit that it held a bit of an entertaining as value well," Rush admitted with a small smile approaching his lips, the first that both have ever seen on him since they first met. "I suppose my mantra of trying to do a good job while rushing it to completion should be gotten rid of."

Without saying anything else, Rush got up from his chair on the other side of the glass and turned towards the bailiff that had been standing there ever since the two teens had first come in. He took it as a sign that they were done with their conversation and wordlessly escorted the man out of the room and back into his designated cell.

"Sounds like my hunch was right on this," Sonic stated happily with a smile as he made his way to the door. "I don't think that I would've been able to have really gotten very far without your help though. Thanks for getting that guy to talk to us."

"Not a problem Sonic," Tails responded happily as he followed his older brother out of the door and into the hallway on their way out of the Detention Center. "I just wanted to show you that I can help you out with these cases."

"I never said that you couldn't," the cobalt hedgehog simply responded. "I just didn't think that it would be good if I kept tugging you here and there on what would most likely be a wild goose chase kind of thing. I guess now that having you stay home and wait for me is going to be out of the question if I keep running into stubborn people like Mr. Woker."

"Yeah, you never did have the patience with people who act a lot like him," the young fox said with a small chuckle. "You always like to pick a fight with Knuckles whenever he pulls the annoying card on you."

"That's because he never wants to answer anything whenever he starts becoming like that. And speaking of Knuckles, I kind of remember something. Do you remember the Handgun we got from Vector yesterday? Well, I'm thinking that we might still be able to figure out the serial number."

"And how do you think we'll be able to do that?" his little brother asked as he felt his arm rummaging inside his backpack and taking something out. "It's kind of hard to really read what was once on there when it has been worn off."

"The serial number was basically stenciled into the handle," the attorney explained as he examined the weapon from within its plastic confides. "It looked like the murderer took a piece of sandpaper and rubbed it off the gun. What if he didn't rub the entirety of the numbers off? What if he only erased enough so that whoever managed to get their hands on it wouldn't be able to read it?"

"If we can't see the numbers on the gun, then how are you thinking that we'll be able to figure out what they even are?" the boy questioned as they finally approached the reception area where the secretary was still working diligently in front of her computer.

"I have an idea, but I think I'll need some help from the secretary. "Excuse me miss," Sonic addressed the woman as politely as he could. "Do you think you could help us with something?"

"It would depend on what that something is," the secretary responded as he diverted her attention away from the work on her computer. "Do you wish to visit somebody else here in the Detention Center?"

"Actually, I was thinking if I could ask to borrow something from you. Do you have anything that has powder in it? I need it so I can try to read something that was stenciled in and now too faded to really read."

"Hmm, I believe I have some cheek blush makeup in my purse," she responded as she bent over behind her desk and began rummaging within the drawers. She came back up a moment later with a small pink compact in her hands. "I hope that this will work for your experiments. I only ask that you try not to use too much of it for this. It's a rather expensive brand that's hard to come by at the local boutiques."

"I'll try not to use too much, although I don't think I'll even need much at all," the hedgehog said as he took the compact and opened it. Inside was some pink powder underneath a small cotton ball with a mirror on the top half of the item. He placed it carefully on the desk as Tails handed him a pair of gloves that he had put into his backpack before they left earlier. He really did thought of everything when he brought that backpack with him. "Let's go ahead and see what else we can possibly dig up from this gun."

With careful hands, he opened the plastic bag containing the Handgun and placed it on top of the table. He could clearly see on the handle the scratch marks made when the murderer tried to sand off the numbers along with the unreadable indentations made from the stenciling. He then took the cotton ball with some of the makeup on it and began putting the pink dust over the markings. After spending a few seconds doing that, he had what he felt to be an adequate amount of dust over the markings. After replacing the cotton ball back into the compact, he carefully wiped away the excess powder with his hands and ended up with the results he was looking for.

"Well, what do you know?" he said happily as he closed the compact and handed it back to the secretary. "I didn't think that it would actually work this well. Thank you very much for letting me borrow this."

"It was my pleasure to do so," the woman responded with a smile as he put her compact back into her desk and went back to work on her computer. She then murmured more to herself than to the two boys now getting ready to leave, "I must admit that it was kind of nice to actually contribute to the discovery of new evidence. I've always wanted to know what that feeling of discovery was like."

"So that's the serial number of the officer who this gun belongs to," Tails responded as he caught a glimpse of the pink numbers before they were carefully placed back into the bag in a way that the dust did not get disturbed. "Now that we know, how are you going to figure out who they belong to? I doubt that the police would be very eager to help you out with this being that I was kind of the one who was accusing one of them for murder and all that."

"I guess we'll just cross that bridge when it comes," Sonic responded with a shrug as he put the gun back into the backpack before heading towards the exit with his little brother following close behind him. "At least we now have something to go on as to who this gun belongs to. I now know that it doesn't belong to Knuckles. I remember him showing me his gun once, and the serial number on it didn't start with a zero.

"Hey, what's this folded piece of paper?" the cobalt hedgehog asked as he felt his hands brush against the familiar feel of paper and took it out of the backpack. "I don't remember seeing something like that when I pulled the gun out earlier."

"Oh, that was something that I was working on a couple of minutes ago," the fox explained as he snatched the paper out of his older brother's hands and put it back in with the rest of the evidence. "It's kind of a makeshift transcript of Mr. Woker's Testimony from earlier. I'm sure that it'll be of some help to us tomorrow. After all, this is something that the court didn't get a chance to hear this morning."

"Yeah, that does make a whole lot of sense," the attorney admitted with a smile as he ruffled his little brother's head in a pleased and affectionate fashion. "Anyway, how about we hurry up and get to the park now? It's starting to get a bit late, and I want to check things out there before it gets too dark."

"Sounds like a good idea there," the fox agreed as he flagged down a taxi and quickly got in once it stopped right next to them. "And maybe we'll get lucky and figure out the reason why nobody was able to hear the first shot."

"It's probably a better chance than being able to figure out who the murder weapon belongs to," the attorney responded with a shrug of his shoulders before he directed the taxi driver to where it was that they wanted to go. A couple of seconds later, they were on their way to Midnight Park, the scene of the murder.

After riding in relative silence for the next fifteen or so minutes, the two finally arrived at the entrance to the park. They stopped about a block short from it, however, because of the somewhat dense police presence surrounding the area. They were most likely still searching the scene for things that they might have missed in their investigation yesterday.

"Wow, I was thinking that things would've cooled down a bit by now after a day's worth of investigating," Sonic stated as he got out of the taxi after paying the driver the fare. "It looks like there nowhere near done yet."

"They're probably just making sure that they didn't overlook anything of great importance while preventing certain people from coming over and messing things up," Tails suggested as he closed the door behind him and saw the vehicle slowly moving away from them and towards its next potential customer. "Either that or they got wind of what I said this morning in court and decided to go all out in defending themselves from any questions that they might be asked."

"I'm willing to bet on the latter of the two," the cobalt hedgehog stated with a small huff of his breath that was of amusement. "It's kind of funny when you think about it. The police would most likely claim that they are innocent, yet they are going completely crazy in looking for something that would prove none of them had anything to do with the murder. Sound's almost like they're admitting to their guilt right there."

"Hey, what are you two doing there?" a man's deep voice suddenly demanded as they neared the entrance to the park. It came from the officer that was standing on duty making sure nobody without authority passed by him. "This is a restricted area. Nobody from the general public is allowed to be here."

"Don't worry sir, we have every right to be here today," the attorney answered immediately, not wanting to be mincing words with the officer as he pulled out the piece of paper from the backpack that Charmy had given them earlier. "We have written permission to examine the scene of the crime."

"Is that so?" the officer asked in a skeptical tone as he took the paper from the teen's hands and began to read over the contents of it. After spending a few moments reading it, gave the paper back with a slight frown on his lips. "Well, it looks like everything is in order here. Go on ahead; just make sure you don't mess up with the scene."

"I promise you; we're not going to do anything crazy like that," the two tailed fox replied as they passed by the man. All he got as an answer from the cop was an undistinguishable look that seemed to reflect his skepticism on the subject.

"Alright, let's hurry up and get to the crime scene," Sonic said as he tried to move away from the officer as quickly as possible while trying to not seem suspicious with his quick movements. "I don't want that guy to be having the time to figure out that we're the ones who got the police tied in with this and then have him kick ups out because of that."

"Yeah, he does have the right to do that since all we really have is the permission of someone that Vector managed to get for us," Tails admitted with a nod of his head. "Then let's not waste any time and search the crime scene while we still have the chance."

With quick strides that they made sure could easily be interpreted as them being in a rush to investigate the crime scene, the two made their way to where police activity was at its peak. They passed by a couple of officers along the way, but they simply gave them no attention as they continued on with whatever it was that they were doing. A couple of seconds later, they finally approached the area where the victim was first discovered lying dead.

"We're finally here," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a small sigh as he let his eyes scan the surrounding area. "Looks like it's time for us to start searching for something that might be important to us."

"Provided that the police around here haven't managed to find anything before we got here," the fox responded in an attempt to tone down his big brother's quickly rising excitement. He then added as he started to search areas that were not already preoccupied by the police, "Let's just hurry up and look at the spots where these guys aren't at. Maybe we'll be lucky enough and find something."

For the next few minutes, the two of them were searching the areas around the scene of the crime that did not have any kind of police activity whatsoever. They searched behind bushes and carefully examined the trees in hopes that they might be able to find something hidden around them. The police and detectives that were nearby occasionally casted some suspicious glances over towards them, all of them wondering what it was they were doing there. They ignored these stares and continued on with their investigation without saying much to each other or anybody else around them.

"Hey Sonic!" Tails suddenly called out from somewhere behind a bush that was a good distance away from where the body was at as he poked his head out of it. "I think I found something over here."

"That's some good news here," moving away from the tree he was searching and towards his little brother to see what it was he had found. He was trying to look for the tree where the bullet he got from the Chaotix was found, but it was proving to be extremely difficult. "I can't find that tree that got shot at that night. What is it that you found?"

"I'm not sure," the fox admitted as he showed what he found to his older brother. In his already gloved hands was a kind of shiny object that was cylindrical in shape and long. On one end of it was something that kind of looked like it would enable it to be clasped onto something else. "It might be something important though. It might've been dropped by the guy that Knuckles said he chased."

"And just what is it that you two are doing here?" a voice suddenly questioned from somewhere behind the two. "This park is currently off limits to everybody except police and detectives. I'm afraid that I'll have to ask the two of you to leave before you end up accidentally messing things up here."

When they turned around, they saw that the person addressing them was a hedgehog with silver fur all over him covered by a brown coat with a badge attached to the front. It was clear by the words put in relief against the golden color that he was a detective. His unusual golden yellow eyes were looking at them with some suspicion reflecting off of them as his hands were resting inside his coat pockets. It was clear by his simple attire and the sound of authority in his tone that he was most likely a detective from the local precinct.

"Uh, I'm sorry sir," Sonic apologized to the detective, a small hint of familiarity rising within him for some reason unbeknownst to him. "I don't mean to be ruffling anybody's fur here. We have permission to be investigating the crime scene, however, so don't go chewing us out just yet."

"We have the paper to prove it," Tails spoke up as he handed the detective their written permission, his eyes also reflecting a small hint of familiarity when he saw the man. "I'm sorry for asking this, but have we met somewhere before?"

"Unless you got yourself tied up to a crime sometime in the past before, I can't say that we have," the silver furred hedgehog responded as he took a quick look at the paper with a white gloved hand that was taken out of his pocket before handing it back to them. He then did a slight double take and pulled it back within his eyesight just as the cobalt hedgehog was about to take hold of it. "Wait a minute; is your name really Sonic?"

"Uh, it was the last time I checked," the attorney responded with a small roll of his eyes, clearly annoyed at how the detective just took the paper back right after he was about to return it to him. "What's it to you in who I am?"

"Heh, I remember that cocky attitude anywhere," the other stated as a small reminiscent smile made its way onto his face. "I suppose that you don't remember me if you're giving me that kind of an answer. I'm the detective that managed to get your life back on track after that case you were involved in two years ago."

"Wait a minute; I think I remember who you are now!" Tails exclaimed as the cogs were finally working their magic inside that brilliant head of his. "You're Detective Silver, aren't you? You were the detective who went out of your way to get me and my friends out of that big mess two years ago!"

"I would suspect then that you're Tails, aren't you?" the detective now known to be Silver responded and received a nod from the young fox as an answer. He then added with clear amusement in his tone, "My, you sure did some growing over these couple of years. I remember how you used to be so shy around anybody who weren't your parents or friends. Boy, who would've thought that I'd be running into the two of you in a place like this."

"Oh yeah, you were the guy who loved to grill me on how my attitude was!" the cobalt hedgehog responded with strong realization in his words as he finally recognized the person in front of him. "I didn't think I'd run into you again while working as a defense attorney. I see that you're still working as a detective with the precinct."

"Actually, you can now consider me to be a senior detective. I got myself a nice promotion last year and have now been able to oversee investigations and take over others that seem to be gaining no progress whatsoever. I naturally still have to take the jobs assigned to me, but I at least now have the opportunity to pass it on to someone else if I feel it isn't worth my time or just feeling plain lazy."

"And I'm guessing that is why you're here now then," the fox stated with a small nod of his head. "You're overseeing the investigation of this crime because things aren't moving as well as they should."

"That's not really the reason why I'm taking on this job," Silver explained with a sigh. "I'm taking this place over because of what you said in court this morning. Thanks to your big mouth, the lead detective of the case has been temporarily taken off of this case and is now being questioned back at the precinct along with a few others."

"Well, it wasn't like I really had much of a choice in the matter," the young kitsune spoke up in his defense before his older brother's temper got the better of them both. "It was the only thing that made sense at the time; and I still feel that that's the only possibility left open since I really believe that Knuckles really isn't the murderer."

"Well, I'm not really complaining about the whole thing per se," the silver furred detective responded with a small innocent shrug of his shoulders. "It just means more money for me now that I'm working overtime because of this job. That and I really like Knuckles as both a friend and fellow detective. I guess I should be thanking you on a personal note and hating you both on a professional level."

"You're welcome, I guess," Sonic stated, confused as to what the other was talking about. That feeling soon left him, however, and he had an idea that he figured might help them advance further with his case. "So you're still working as a detective at the local precinct, right?"

"That is kind of what I said a few seconds ago. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was wondering if you might know something about a couple of things that we have on us," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he motioned with his hands the object that was still within Tails' grasp. "We found something here in the bushes just before you decided to sneak up on us. Do you have any idea what it is?"

"That's an additional piece meant for use with handguns," the detective answered without taking more than a second to look at the object. "I've noticed him holding that in his hands ever since I got here. It's what we like to call a Silencer. It's basically what you put over the tip of a gun's nuzzle so that you can dampen out a good majority of sound that a gunshot would make. You wouldn't be able to hear it unless you were probably within good viewing distance of the shooter."

"A Silencer?" Tails repeated as he looked at the object in his hands with a small glint shining in his eyes. "Hey Sonic, do you think this is the reason why nobody was able to hear the first shot that killed Ms. Vulpin?"

"I was wondering the same thing there. Hey Silver, do you think that you can figure out whether or not a bullet was shot out through this thing?"

"Give it to me and I'll see if I can identify some telltale signs," Silver demanded somewhat politely as he placed a gloved hand out. The fox gave the Silencer to him and he immediately started to examine it. "Hmm, there are small black flecks at the end of it. I can't really say for sure whether or not this was used on the night of the murder, but it's clear that it did fire out at least one bullet before. There is something else about it though," he added with a slight unease in his tone. "This piece of equipment is made to fit only the standard issue guns that every detective carries with them. The police carry a slightly different model, so this doesn't work with theirs."

"Well, that sounds like an interesting piece of detail," Sonic stated as he thought about what that detail meant. He then reached into the backpack to pull out something else as he said; "Now we know that only the detectives should be under suspect if we continue to believe that one of them planted evidence. And how about this Handgun?" he continued on as he handed the still bagged weapon to the detective for him to examine. "There's something on it that I want you to take a look at."

"This is the murder weapon that was found here, right?" the detective clarified as he took the gun and returned the Silencer at the same time. "I hear that it was proven that it was planted here after the murderer ran off with it. I would suspect that you know pretty much everything that there is to know about it since you presented it to the court."

"Everything except who the owner of the gun is," the fox responded as he took a standard sandwich bag out of his pack and placed the piece of metal into it. "We were hoping that you might know who it belongs to. We managed to get a read on the serial number on it by putting some dust over the numbers that the murderer tried to scratch out."

"It looks more like you treated this thing like it was something to practice cosmetic skills on," the other responded with a small chuckle as he clearly recognized what the pink substance was. "I guess you just have to improvise when you have nothing better to use. Let's see if I can recognize this number... Wait a minute," he stated with a sharp intake of breath that was out of shock. "This number...!"

"It sounds like you know who it belongs to," the cobalt hedgehog stated with a raised eyebrow at the detective's response. From what he remembered, he did not get too taken aback when they last had a Q and A session, so whatever he figured out must have really struck a cord in him. "Do you mind telling us the guy's name?"

"I...I..." Silver stuttered, clearly trying to get over the shock currently flooding his entire bodily system and failing miserably at the moment. After a couple moments' worth of deep breaths, he finally managed to get the words out of his mouth. "If I remember correctly, then this number... It belongs to...to Detective Ace Sleuth, a detective that's higher up in rank than me! He was the one who was overseeing the initial investigation before I was to take over that job."

"He's a detective with higher seniority than you, huh? I wasn't really expecting that one, to be perfectly honest with you. Then again, I guess it makes a bit of sense since a high ranking detective might have better flexibility to do something like this without causing much suspicion on himself. Nobody would dare question him about what he might be doing near a body during an initial investigation."

"It's nice to be able to finally pin a name on the owner of this gun," Tails stated as he took the bag out of the still slightly shocked detective's hands and quickly jotted down a couple of quick notes on the bag. "I still can't believe that this actually belongs to a member of the police force. The question we have to ask ourselves now is why that gun even at the crime scene was in the first place?"

"But I don't think that it was him who murdered the victim here," the detective refuted at his superior turned prime suspect defense. "Of all the people who would want her dead, he would be the last person wanting that."

"And how can you say something like that with such confidence?" Sonic asked, intrigued at the reasoning behind this claim.

"Because Ace and Teela were engaged! They've been so for almost half a year now, and it was well known throughout the force. They loved each other so much that they liked to show that appreciation out in the open with frequent kisses and hugs. He was head over heels for her. He wouldn't even dare think about harming a hair on her body!"

"If he really loved her that much, then why is he still working right now?" the fox asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why would he consider working as the lead detective in her death? People would naturally be too shocked at hearing their loved one be killed to really do much of anything else."

"You obviously don't know the detective at all. Beyond all of the lovey stuff, he hardly lets any kind of emotions get in the way of his job. Even the most gruesome of crimes couldn't deter him from investigating a murder to the best of his abilities.

"And there's also another reason why he couldn't have murdered the victim," the detective added as he recalled something else. "He was called in for investigating some kind of gang incident that was happening in the middle of town a little before midnight that night. I can say that for sure because I was relatively close to him when he got that order. I even saw him leave the building after that. He couldn't possibly have had time to even go murdering her."

"I get the feeling that this is something we aren't going to be getting a clear answer to until we're in court tomorrow," Sonic stated with a small frown on his lips as he gave thought to what he might run into the next day in court. Tails was off to the side busy jotting what he assumed to have been Silver's Testimony on a piece of paper. "Thanks for giving us all this information Silver. I'm sure that somewhere in there is the answer to everything that happened that night."

"I still don't think that Detective Ace murdered his fiancée," Silver stated as he was clearly in a state of denial as he walked away from the two without saying goodbye. "It just doesn't make any sense at all."

"I really feel sorry for doing this to Silver," the cobalt hedgehog stated with a shake of his head. "I can only guess how much this is killing him to see his superior becoming a prime suspect for murder. If everything we got now is correct, however, then the only person we can suspect for this murder is that Detective Ace. I guess we'll get our answer once we get to court tomorrow."

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Mr. Woker's Testimony: Written out by Tails during their conversation at the Detention Center. He says that as he stood by the body after calling the police, he only saw the Red Cell Phone lying next to the victim. He did not see the murder weapon anywhere.

Silencer: A gun enhancement found in the bushes of Midnight Park a slight distance away from the murder. Small traces of gunpowder shows that at least one bullet was shot through it. It can only be attached to the gun models that all detectives wield.

Silver's Testimony: Written out by Tails during their conversation at Midnight Park. He says that Detective Ace and Ms. Vulpin were engaged for six months, a fact known throughout the precinct. He also said that he overheard a conversation the detective had on the phone asking him to investigate a gang problem in the middle of town a little before midnight on the night of the murder and saw him leave soon after.

**Updated Evidence:**

Handgun: The murder weapon in the Midnight Park killing. It's a precinct issue wielded by detectives. The serial number is now legible thanks to some makeup dust over it. Thanks to Silver's help, the number proves that it belongs to a detective named Ace Sleuth.

**New Profiles:**

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old detective who worked painstakingly hard to earn his promotion to senior detective after one official year on the force in conjunction with one year of internship. He knows Knuckles and sometimes works with him on cases. He's currently taking over charge of the initial investigation due to the original detective being questioned by the police.

Ace Sleuth: A thirty year old senior detective with greater seniority than Silver. It was well known throughout the department that he was the victim's fiancé**. **He was the original detective in charge of the initial investigation before he was pulled off for an internal investigation.**  
><strong>


	6. Under the Midnight Moon Pt 4

Hello everybody! Here is the next chapter and new installment in this case. This part was a bit hard for me to write because I actually managed to dig myself into a hole. Amazingly enough, I managed to dig myself out of it without having to change around the details I've already put in the story.

It definitely wasn't easy to write it out, but that just made it all the more fun to write because I do not plan these things out. I just write them out as they come into my head, so not even I know how things will work out later in the story. The only thing that I do have planned is the plot involved with this story. Yes, this story has a plot behind all of these cases.

Anyway, I hope that you'll all enjoy this new chapter in this mystery story. Please don't forget to leave me a review saying how I'm doing with this story. As I said before, this is my first mystery story and I would like some constructive criticism, not something that just ends up to be nothing but a useless flame and attempted bash at my story. Until the next update everybody!

And just as a pointless hint for this chapter, there will be no new evidence for those who are playing along with the mystery instead of just reading it through.

* * *

><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Nobody would believe that Sonic was one if he didn't have it pinned proudly upon his chest. He proved that he was deserving of it despite his age after successfully completing his first career case.

Handgun: The murder weapon in the Midnight Park killing. It's a precinct issue wielded by detectives. The serial number is now legible thanks to some makeup dust over it. Thanks to Silver's help, the number proves that it belongs to a detective named Ace Sleuth.

Crime Scene Photo: Shows the scene of the murder before Vector and his detective gang collected the evidence. A handgun is seen lying abandoned a few feet away from the body; a fiery red cell phone is seen on the ground a few inches from the victim's open right hand. It also shows a single gunshot wound to the chest above the heart.

Bullet: Found lodged in a tree somewhere near the crime scene. It was the bullet fired after the first firing by the proposed murderer. It's currently unknown as to why this one was clearly heard when the first shot wasn't.

Red Cell Phone: Belongs to Knuckles. He says he lost it the day before the murder and that it couldn't have been found anywhere near the crime scene. It has a black strap that has its owner's name on it. The prints have been wiped.

Autopsy Report: A report documenting the key details surrounding Ms. Vulpin's death. Her estimated time of death is around 12 to 12:30. She was shot straight in the heart with a single bullet. Her death was immediate.

Bullet 2: The bullet that was extracted from the victim's heart. Besides the blood, it looks unmarred and in pristine condition. The ballistic markings show that it was fired from the same gun that the second bullet was shot from.

Mr. Woker's Testimony: Written out by Tails during their conversation at the Detention Center. He says that as he stood by the body after calling the police, he only saw the Red Cell Phone lying next to the victim. He did not see the murder weapon anywhere.

Silencer: A gun enhancement found in the bushes of Midnight Park a slight distance away from the murder. Small traces of gunpowder shows that at least one bullet was shot through it. It can only be attached to the gun models that all detectives wield.

Silver's Testimony: Written out by Tails during their conversation at Midnight Park. He says that Detective Ace and Ms. Vulpin were engaged for six months, a fact known throughout the precinct. He also said that he overheard a conversation the detective had on the phone asking him to investigate a gang problem in the middle of town a little before midnight on the night of the murder and saw him leave soon after.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. Passed the bar exam with flying colors, allowing him to earn his Attorney's Badge a year earlier than normal. Has a likable and confident attitude about him, but sometimes gets nervous when in the courtroom. He's Tails' adoptive big brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He spends most of his time in the Robotnik Law Firm where Sonic works making sure the place stays relatively clean. He doesn't go to school because of the school board recognizing his brilliant mind surpassing even the most advanced high school work.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not.

Knuckles Echidna: The defendant in this case and Sonic and Tails' friend. He is an eighteen-year-old detective who works at the local precinct and is apparently good friends with Prosecutor Vector. He has been accused of murdering a woman found shot to death in the local park.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog with fur that's as dark as the world's blackest midnight with occasional ruby red streaks lining his quills. He's the prosecutor in charge of overseeing the prosecution of the case. He started his career at the age of sixteen, a feat made possible due to his studies abroad where the prosecuting age is a couple of years less than this country.

Teela Vulpin: A twenty-five-year-old woman who worked as a simple waitress at a local busy diner. In her line of work, her ears sometimes picks up on things that are better left unknown. She's the victim in this case.

Rush Woker: A thirty year old man who tends to revere hard work over everything else. He always prefers that things get done right the first time around in a quick manner so as to avoid any kind of wasteful redundancy. This usually results in his constant temper and attitude problems when talking with others. He claims to have witnessed Knuckles killing the victim.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old detective who worked painstakingly hard to earn his promotion to senior detective after one official year on the force in conjunction with one year of internship. He knows Knuckles and sometimes works with him on cases. He's currently taking over charge of the initial investigation due to the original detective being questioned by the police.

Ace Sleuth: A thirty year old senior detective with greater seniority than Silver. It was well known throughout the department that he was the victim's fiancé**. **He was the original detective in charge of the initial investigation before he was pulled off for an internal investigation.**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Under the Midnight Moon Pt. 4<strong>

After spending the night getting all of their evidence in order and trying to figure out how they were going to make their case, both Sonic and Tails found themselves in the courtroom waiting lobby first thing the next morning. Both looked somewhat tired, although a great determination was shining through their eyes as it was clear that they wanted to prove Knuckles innocent as soon as possible. While it was true that they casted doubt on the idea that he had anything to do with the murder, they still did not managed to completely exonerate him of the charges. As such, he was still the number one suspect in the case, and he would stay that way until there was concrete evidence presented by them that proved otherwise.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have a battle on our hands today," Tails stated as he took a drink of orange juice from his can while sitting on the soft chair. "I hope that exploration of the park we did yesterday ends up being helpful for us."

"I'm sure that was more than worth the effort," Sonic responded as he took a swig from the can of soda in his hands. It was clear that he was at least somewhat nervous; he tended to drink soda or have the want to drink one whenever he got like that. "We got a bit of Silver's Testimony that seemed to pinpoint a couple of key details, and we managed to actually squeeze a little extra something out of Mr. Woker in the process. I'd say that that was a good day's worth of work for us."

"You really should try to cut back on the soda, you know?" the fox stated as he finished his juice and threw it away in the trashcan next to him. "Drinking one soda a day is one thing, but to use it as a way to calm your nerves is a different thing altogether. Why don't you try breathing exercises or maybe even just a can of juice like me?"

"Sorry, but old habits die hard," the cobalt hedgehog simply responded as he finished off his can and threw his away as well. "Besides, I kind of need the nice caffeine in my system so that I don't accidently end up crashing in the middle of court. That really wouldn't be the best of things, now would it?"

"You can still crash with too much caffeine in your system, too," his little brother countered with a shake of his head. He then got off of the chair and took the backpack that was resting on the floor beside him that was filled with the evidence that they had collected over the duration of this case. "That's why you shouldn't be drinking something like soda in the morning. Then again, I guess I should just find some common ground on this and be happy that you only tend to down one can when you get nervous."

"Well, I think that it's almost time for us to start," the attorney quickly changed the subject as he saw the bailiff move to open the doors that lead to the courtroom. "Come on, let's go ahead and get ourselves set up in there. Shadow's probably already in there with all his stuff at the ready."

"What a way to avoid the subject Sonic."

Without saying anything to that short comment, Sonic made his way into the courtroom with Tails following closely behind him. Once he was inside, he noticed that he was right in what he said earlier about Shadow standing at the ready behind his podium. He had all of the things that he felt he needed for today laid out in front of him, and he was waiting for the proceedings to begin with his arms crossed. His eyes momentarily met with the defense attorney's with an expression that was both familiar and unreadable before he disconnected them and went back to acting stoic.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Shadow remembers what happened to us two years ago," Sonic randomly said to his little brother as they made it to their respectful podium and began to set up their evidence.

"That's probably why his parents moved away from here so that they could get a fresh start," Tails responded just before another door opened and the judge started to walk in. "I honestly didn't think that we would've run into him again like this."

"Well, this just shows that anything can happen at any time," the cobalt hedgehog stated with a simple shrug of his shoulders just as the judge took a seat on his designated chair and took the gavel into his hands.

"Court is now in session!" he exclaimed, thus successfully discontinuing any and all conversations that were still going on at that moment. "We shall now reconvene in the trial of Detective Knuckles."

"The defense is ready, Your Honor," the defense attorney stated as he assumed his professional attitude and posture.

"The prosecution is also ready, Your Honor," the ebon furred prosecutor stated, his arms still crossed and his ruby red eyes focused on nowhere in particular.

"Then let's go ahead and get on with the case," the old man stated in a commanding tone. "Yesterday, we ended our proceedings at a cliffhanger of sorts. There were some questions that were left unanswered, and the defense had raised a rather interesting possibility that a member of the police was probably the one who murdered the victim in the park. The reason being was that a gun that was issued to precinct detectives was found at the scene with both the prints and the serial number identifying the owner rubbed off."

"In response to that, I heard that the police department went ahead and questioned all the officers and detectives who were the first responders to the scene," Shadow stated as he looked at a piece of paper in front of him. "I would suspect that you ordered this to be done since you seemed somewhat concerned of the possibility being true Your Honor. Needless to say, I have a report here that the internal investigation that the department conducted found no evidence of any misconduct performed by any of the first responders. Thus, I stand by my claim that it was the defendant, Detective Knuckles, who murdered Ms. Vulpin in the park that night due to the evidence currently in front of us."

"I object, Your Honor!" Sonic exclaimed as he scowled at Shadow's argument. "Just because the prosecution has the report given to him by the police department detailing their internal investigation, it doesn't exempt them from our right to ask them to testify. I ask that we be able to summon one of the first responders to the stand and hear what it is that they have to say for themselves!"

"Hmm, the defense's argument does have a point to it," the judge admitted with a nod of his head as he agreed with Sonic. "While an internal investigation report is as good as a certified witness's testimony, we can never be too careful when we're dealing with a case that revolves around a murder. It wouldn't do to accuse a person of such a crime without examining every witness and evidence that come our way."

"Humph, I had a feeling that the defense might actually be pursuing that line of logic today," the ebon furred hedgehog responded with a huff of his breath that was neither of annoyance or amusement. "As a precaution, I had registered one of the detectives from the first responding team as a witness. In fact, he's the lead detective in the investigation before the defense made that absurd claim, so he's more than capable to vouch for both himself and his team. After all, it does fall onto his shoulders to make sure that nothing goes wrong during the entire investigation."

"Very well, the prosecution may go ahead and present their witness. Bailiff, please escort him to the stand!"

A few seconds later, a wolf with gray fur and piercing blue eyes came into the courtroom and took the stand. He had on a rather clean and new looking gray coat on, and he looked quite professional on so many levels. His face reflected the many years of experience that he had on the job as his nose twitched a bit as if trying to smell the tension in the air.

"Witness, please state your name and occupation for the court," the prosecutor demanded politely with his arms crossed once again.

"I'm supposing that the internal investigation report didn't hold up very well, did it?" the wolf stated with a slight growl in his words. It was hard to tell whether that was just natural or done on purpose. "Funny, I thought that it would be as good as a witness's sworn affidavit. It's funny how the courts want to perform their cases as of late."

"Your name and occupation please," Shadow repeated again, keeping the same official tone that he used the last time he asked.

"Sorry for the holdup there. My name's Ace Sleuth; I'm a senior detective down at the local precinct and in charge of the initial investigation. Actually, I was until someone in this courtroom decided it was funny to say that one of us went ahead and forged evidence."

"Witness, I ask that you refrain from stating any opinions that are of an objective nature," the judge warned the detective. "We asked you in here because we had some questions that we wanted to ask you that the report couldn't answer. We'd rather that we heard it straight from you so as to prevent any confusion."

"I suppose that you have every right to do so," Ace responded with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulders. "It is your job after all to question everything that comes your way and make sure everything is as it seems. So what is it that you would like for me to testify about?"

"Well, how about you start off by telling us what it is that you saw when you first arrived at the scene of the crime?" the prosecutor suggested. "After all, you're the best person to give us any kind of information regarding the initial assessment."

"Alright, I'll go ahead and repeat whatever it is that this court has already most likely heard yesterday," the detective stated, his voice clearly reflecting the annoyance at having to stand upon the stand for apparently no reason.

_**Arriving at the Park  
><strong>_

I had just returned back to the precinct on a call about a gang problem in the middle of town. We received a call about a murder that occurred in Midnight Park around half past twelve. As per protocol, I went in to investigate with a team of first responders at my disposal. When we got there, a Mr. Woker was already there standing guard over the body. After we quickly questioned him, we quickly investigated the scene before we cordoned it off from the general public. After that, we reported back to the precinct and had forensics take over.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Hmm, it sounds as though you've done everything that you were supposed to have done then," the judge stated when the testimony had ended. "I can hardly see anything wrong with the testimony that you have provided with the court."

"Which is exactly why I don't understand why you even bothered to tear me away from my work just to ask me these pointless questions," Ace responded, not even bothering to keep his irritation in check. It was clear he was more than comfortable on the witness stand.

"Do you truly still wish to cross-examine the detective Sonic?" Shadow asked with a small smirk on his face. "If you want my honest opinion, I couldn't find anything contradictory within his testimony, so I feel that this will be nothing but a waste of time."

"I think he's right on this Sonic," Tails agreed with the ebon furred hedgehog rather reluctantly. "Even I couldn't find anything wrong with his account."

"Within every piece of testimony that comes into this courtroom lies more information that's hiding within these simple sentences," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he answered both the prosecutor's and his little brother's concern. "I exercise my right to cross-examine the witness."

"Are you sure you're a defender of justice attorney?" the detective asked as he raised his eyebrow at the teen. "Funny, it's starting to sound like you're an obstructer of one. Oh well, I do hear that this is your second case of your career, so you're probably still suffering the high your first case win served you."

"Wow, he sure sounds like a really cocky guy," the two tailed fox whispered to Sonic as he saw his older brother trying to keep his temper in check. "He definitely must be used to confronting murderers if he has an attitude like that."

"Either that or he has something to hide and is using his detective attitude as a front," the cobalt hedgehog responded as a slight snarl made its way to his mouth. "To be honest, I still don't know whether or not he really was at the park murdering his fiancée. This gun doesn't prove that much."

"Then how are you going to prove he even has anything to do with the murder? I thought the gun was going to be the key in that."

"We'll just have to press him for more information and see what happens from there. Hopefully, we'll figure out something that we can use."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"I'm just curious, but how long would you estimate it would take for someone to get from the middle of town to Midnight Park by car?" Sonic asked as he scratched his chin thoughtfully, wanting to see if there would be any information he could get that could possibly have some relation to the detective's gun.

"I've done that once before, so I can say for certainty that it would take at the least fifteen minutes of driving," Detective Ace answered with great confidence in his answer as his posture seemed to radiate the very professionalism he had been exuding since he first came into the courtroom. "And that would be considering that you don't get caught up in any kind of traffic. And in case you're wondering, it would only take ten minutes under smooth traffic to get to that very same park from the precinct."

"So you're saying that you and your team basically arrived at the scene of the crime about twenty minutes before one," Shadow stated with a sense of indifference in his tone. "I would suspect that you were already back at the precinct for at least a few minutes from your first call out before you got this one."

"I was back for about five minutes and filling out the incident report before that call about the park came to be," the detective confirmed with a nod of his head. "As I said earlier, that call came in at around half past twelve. And in case the defense asks, my first call came at just before twelve that night. You can go around asking everybody back at the precinct; they'll be more than happy to back up that claim."

"Detective Ace, while I know that this is your usual demeanor that you exude in these court proceedings, I ask that put a little less of your extra emotion into it," the judge asked with a stern stare at the witness. "You're starting to sound a lot more defensive than you are supposed to be offensive with that tone."

"I apologize, Your Honor. I do not mean to pass myself off as aggravated and potentially uncooperative. I just find it hard to believe that I'm being accused of altering the scene of a crime by planting evidence. I have no reason to do such a thing, especially since it's my fiancée's murder that I'm working on. Why would I want to jeopardize her only chance at being able to rest in peace by virtually soiling the very scene of her death? It's a rather ridiculous claim if you actually take the time to think about it. And to think that you were the one who ordered the questioning."

"And I apologize for the inconvenience this has no doubt caused you and your men," the old man responded with a small nod of his head as his eyes reflected a small amount of sadness. "I understand how hard this whole thing might be on you right now with Ms. Vulpin now apart from your life. However, I had reason to believe at the time that I made my order that your group of men along with yourself had to be reviewed due to the fact that a substantial amount of evidence was pointing away from the defendant being the killer. Anyway, I ask that we talk about these somewhat personal matters at another given time. Right now, I ask that the cross-examination continue on."

"Uh, yes Your Honor," Sonic responded rather lightly, amazed at how the conversation had went off topic moments ago and suddenly came back on track in the next. Even Tails was slightly surprised at how the conversation seemed to have transitioned so smoothly without any problem or hitch whatsoever. "Um, you say that when you had first arrived at the scene of the crime, Mr. Woker was practically standing guard next to the body. What exactly did you question the man about?"

"We asked him the simple standard questions that we are to ask every witness at the scene. We always make sure that they didn't try anything illegal and record whatever it is that they witnessed right on the spot before they forget or have something or someone alter their memories of the incident.

"We also took the time to examine the crime scene for anything that might have been considered to be out of place from a traditional murder scene," the detective continued on without being asked to do so. "Needless to say, we needed the help of the forensics team if we wanted to get any further with our investigation, so I put one of my men on guard duty at the actual crime scene while two others took guard at the only two entrances into the park. The rest of us along with myself escorted Mr. Woker back to the precinct where we asked him more questions. We also asked for forensics to go to the scene and wrote up our report on what we initially found."

"My, that's quite a bit of detail you gave us from that one sole question the defense asked of you," Shadow responded, his amazement at the immense details cleverly masked by a stoic face and the immediate asking of a question. "Do you mind humoring the court, however, with only providing the answers to the questions at hand? This is a murder trial after all, and we'd all rather that we discover the real murderer as soon as possible. Answers not pertaining to the question should be disregarded."

"Oh, you young attorneys these days are always in a rush to get to the answer. There are times when one needs to listen to a dragged on testimony. You never know when you might actually dig up something very useful."

"If that's the case, then I hope you don't mind if I continued on with my digging of your testimony," the cobalt hedgehog interrupted as he tried to get more information, however needless some of it was, out of Ace. "There was something that I had forgotten to ask of you at the top of this cross-examination. How severe of a problem was the issue that you were called in for at the center of town?"

"There was a sort of a minor scuffle," Detective Ace answered. "It was a gang problem, although there really were only three people involved with the incident there. Two of them got detained; a third managed to get away. I'm ashamed to admit this, but the one who got away managed to get the jump on me."

"Oh my, I hope you weren't seriously hurt in that scuffle!" the judge stated with concern in his voice and shock reflecting off of his eyes. "I don't understand though how someone got the drop on a man as well seasoned in crime fighting as you. As far as I'm concerned, this is the first I've ever heard of this happening to you."

"As I said Your Honor, that was a rather embarrassing moment of my career. And as if to add insult to injury, that gang member managed to steal my gun during that confusion without me knowing until he was long gone. It's apparent that he's also a well-seasoned pickpocket to have performed such a daring move on me. Being that he had long since disappeared once I noticed, I returned back to the precinct where I soon got called in about Teela found murdered in that park."

"You lost your gun to a gang member during your investigation in the middle of the city?" the cobalt hedgehog repeated with a raised eyebrow, wanting to make sure that he heard the detective right.

"Must you really add salt to the wound attorney? I will not repeat what I've already said a couple of moments ago. You really should learn how to put on your listening ears before you start asking your witnesses questions. You'd be surprised at how much it'll help you with your case in that you don't have to constantly repeat what they say."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"I only repeated what you said because I wanted clarification on it," Sonic responded with a smug smile on his lips. "After all, what you just said about you losing your gun is a whole lot more important than you think."

"And how exactly would me losing my gun tell you anything more that you don't already know about this case?" Detective Ace asked with skepticism clearly echoing in his tone of voice. "As I already testified to earlier, I lost my gun during the gangster incident earlier that night in the middle of the city. I can hardly see how such an unrelated topic could have any bearing whatsoever on my fiancée's murder trial."

"Even I'm a little bit confused about your current infatuation with this gun Sonic," Shadow stated in a sort of teasing fashion as he pulled on his gloves a bit as if they were slowly falling off his hands. "Then again, most of your other claims from yesterday were just as confusing if not more so than now. As the detective said, the loss of his gun has nothing to do with this murder."

"Yes, the loss of his gun _at the time of the gangster incident_ has nothing to do with this," the cobalt hedgehog agreed with added emphasis on the gangster detail. "However, that's not what I'm trying to lead up to with this question. What I'm saying is that the _location_ of where his gun was found holds great significance to this case."

"Oh, so you managed to find my gun for me," the detective stated with a small smile. "I never thought that anybody would've been able to come across it. Would you be so kind as to return it to me after this case is over?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't have any intentions of returning it to you. After all, it is an important piece of evidence. It proves that you lied just now to the court about where you were on the night of the murder."

"And how do you propose that something like this happened?" the ebon hedgehog questioned with his arms crossed.

"It's simple. This gun was found at the scene of the crime. It belongs to Detective Ace here. However, he just said that he lost it during a scuffle with a gang member. Unless there's an exact copy of this gun lying around somewhere in this city, I find it hard to believe that this can be in two places at one time."

"Hmm, you do raise a good point Mr. Sonic," the judge admitted with a nod of his head. "Detective Ace, can you say anything to refute this claim?"

"Well, I would like to start off by saying the defense knows how to weave up a good story on the fly like that. However, that's all it really amounts to at the end of the day. From what I've heard of this case, that gun has had its serial number along with any fingerprints on it wiped off. You can't possibly prove that it's mine in such a condition."

"I'm sorry, but that serial number wasn't completely wiped away," the defense attorney stated as he showed the court the pink dusting still showing the numbers on the handle of the gun. "If you would all look carefully at this, you will see that the numbers can still be clearly read provided adequate visual aid is applied. Whoever tried to rub the number off failed to spend the amount of time to completely get rid of it."

"And what evidence do you have to suggest that the gun is even mines to begin with?" Detective Ace countered, his attitude starting to pick up that defensive demeanor again. "I don't believe that you're privy to information such as that."

"I took the liberty of visiting the crime scene yesterday. It was there that I happened to run into another senior detective by the name of Silver. I asked him to look at this very number and he confirmed it beyond a doubt to have been yours."

"I object, Your Honor!" Shadow exclaimed as he pounded at his podium. "The defense is simply raising a pointless conjecture. So what if the gun belongs to the detective and was found at the scene of the crime? It doesn't necessarily mean that the witness here is lying about his accounts of that night. Why, that gun could've easily been left by that gangster who took it from him earlier that night."

"My thoughts exactly Prosecutor Shadow," the detective agreed with him. "That man could've ran all the way to the park, ran into Teela, and shot her to death in fear that she might've become a witness. Suddenly in a panic, he decided to wipe the gun off of his prints and scratch off the serial number before discarding it by her body. He then ran off before Mr. Woker had a chance to lay eyes on him."

"Wow, I can't even begin to say how many flaws there are in that argument, Detective Ace," Tails spoke up with surprise in his words at the terribly made up scenario that completely contradicted the evidence. "First of all, you said it yourself earlier that it takes at least fifteen minutes by car in good traffic to get to the park from where you were at. If he were only running, then he would've made it to the murder scene after the victim was killed. There's no way that he could be the murderer."

"My, that's such an interesting claim coming from such a young child."

"Secondly, even if this so called gangster did managed to get there before the murder and ended up committing it, then I don't see any reason for him to discard the gun," the fox continued on as he ignored the rather snide comment about his age. "However, let's just go along with the fact that he did panic for the sake of argument. Even so, there would be no reason for him to have erased the serial number along with his prints. The only thing that would connect him to the crime would be his prints!"

"Well, that may be so, but a panicked man would do many things that don't necessarily make sense at the heat of the moment," Detective Ace countered, his voice seemingly starting to pick up ever the slightest amounts of panic in it.

"And finally, we have direct evidence which proves that none of the things I have just shown to have been highly unlikey to be nothing but a fantasy that you created while standing in front of us all!"

"Those are some tough words coming from an assistant, but do you really think you have the means to back up your fiery claim?" the ebon hedgehog countered, his face clearly showing the amusement at the argument Tails had posed to the court. "Just what is this direct evidence that shows your argument to be true?"

"Allow me to take over the reins on this one," Sonic said, clearly not wanting to be outdone by his younger brother as he took Mr. Woker's Testimony into his hands and began to read off parts of it. "I happened to visit Mr. Woker at the Detention Center yesterday, and I've learned of something that hadn't been said in court. He said that he stood guard by the victim's body from the time he made the call to the police until they arrived. During that wait, he took a look at the scene for himself and said to us that he only saw the defendant's Red Cell Phone nearby. He didn't see anything that resembled a gun!"

"What? That's impossible!" the detective exclaimed, both amazed and confused at the situation as his emotions exuded a sort of panic. "The witness must be confused about that. I clearly saw a gun at the scene when I first arrived with my men to investigate. Perhaps that gangster managed to slip by him and drop the gun next to Teela."

"Now you're just going ahead and contradicting yourself. You just said that this supposed gangster discarded the gun and then ran away from the scene. It's not like it's going to be true either way, however. Further on into our questioning, he also said that nobody passed by him during his wait. Therefore, I find it feasibly impossible for the murder weapon to have been at the scene of the murder before the witness had arrived!"

"Humph, a good argument you posed there attorney," the wolf responded with his arms crossed and his back hunched a bit in irritation as he calmed down somewhat. "It sounds like you managed to unravel and discredit my side of the events."

"But what exactly does this mean Mr. Sonic?" the judge questioned as he banged his gavel to quell the quiet murmurs that were beginning to surface within the audience. "What does this have to do with the witness?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious to you by now, Your Honor? The fact that this gun was found at the crime scene after Mr. Woker happened to stumble upon the victim and wait for the police to arrive is proof positive that Detective Ace has been lying to the court this entire time about his whereabouts that night! He never went to the middle of the city to check up on a reported disturbance. He never lost his gun due to some gangster getting the drop on him as he so says! Rather, he was the one who planted the gun at the murder scene while under the guise of checking things out as a first responder. I don't know where exactly he was at, but I can say for certain that he altered that crime scene!"

"H-how dare you?" the detective exclaimed angrily with a growl emanating from the back of his throat. "You dare to call me, a senior detective at the precinct, a liar in front of everybody in this court? What right do you, a simple rookie attorney and his young assistant who thinks he knows everything, have to accuse me of lying under oath? I ought to sue the both of you for slander after this!"

"Well, you must admit that the evidence is pointing to you lying under oath," Shadow stated with his arms crossed as he looked rather uneasy with the entire situation. "I'm afraid that slander would be out of the question for you. However, I must say that there is something wrong with the defenses' argument."

"And just what is that Mr. Shadow?" the judge asked with raised eyebrows at the prosecutor's claim. "What is it that's off with the defense's account of what happened? I've seen nothing but an argument that's been proven sufficiently with evidence."

"All they did was prove that the detective lied in court about his whereabouts on the night in question. I will attest to that much. However, that then raises the question as to why he lied in the first place."

"Are you serious Shadow?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with shoulders slumped in disbelief. "You're the last person right now who I can think of who doesn't know the reason why he lied about this."

"Then please enlighten this court with this reason you say the witness has to lie. Why was it that he was compelled to do so?"

"Fine, I'll tell the court all about it. If everything had went as Detective Ace said it went on that night, then he would have an alibi for the murder in the fact that his gun was stolen from him earlier that night and he was in a completely different part of the city if he was ever questioned about it. He wouldn't have been capable of murdering his fiancée. However, now that we proved he lied about his whereabouts just before the murder occurred, we can't say with the same amount of certainty that he now has a rock solid alibi."

"Are you actually claiming that I lied about where I was because I murdered my own fiancée on that night in the park?" the wolf questioned with a growl escaping his lips. "Are you seriously basing that claim on the fact that my stolen gun couldn't have possibly moved from the middle of the city to that damned park in such a short span of time? That's hardly a good basis for making an indictment. Need I remind you that I have been engaged to Teela for almost six months now? I was deeply in love with her for the longest of times. Regardless whether or not I lied about where I was at the time, I have no damn reason to want her dead!"

"Hmm, besides the fact that the basis for an indictment is rather flimsy, I must admit that it does seem quite unlikely that you would actually kill the woman you so dearly love," the judge said with doubt hanging at the edge of his words. "From what I've heard over the past few months, your love with her has been expressed quite a lot throughout the precinct."

"I believe that we probably need another bout of testimony from the detective if we're ever planning to get anywhere with the defense's claim," Shadow stated with a small sigh. "We're all pretty much just mincing words with each other with no end in sight."

"But what would you like for him to testify about? It's already been proven that he lied about where he was in the half hour before the murder."

"Well, how about we go all the way to the root of this argument? This all started when the defense proved that Detective Ace lied about his whereabouts. I would like for him to testify about where he really was at the time. Perhaps he might be able to shed more light onto this interesting line of confusion."

"You want him to testify about that? Forgive me for asking, but just how is this going to be helping your case Prosecutor Shadow?"

"Your Honor, I'm more interested in figuring out the truth of this entire case than I am about my official stance," the ebon hedgehog stated with his arms crossed and looking as passive as he could. "And besides, I'm sure that I'm allowed to change my actual standing on the case if I feel that it becomes necessary."

"Hmm, very well then," the old man stated as he banged his gavel. "I'll allow the witness to testify. Detective Ace, please tell the court as to where you really were during the time before the murder was reported."

"Humph, a prosecutor who isn't really prosecuting the person that the state hired him to prosecute shouldn't be taking part in a court case such as this," Detective Ace stated in a somewhat confusing manner. "I guess I have no choice but to testify if I want to clear all the suspicion that's over my head here."

_**What I Really Did That Night  
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Fine, I'll tell the court the truth about where I was that night. I never really went to investigate that first called in disturbance at twelve midnight. I had another detective take charge of the job. I had heard that something happened in the precinct that night and decided to stay behind to check it out myself. In so doing, I had decided to leave my gun inside my office on top of my desk. I wasn't lying when I said that it had been stolen for it had suddenly disappeared when I went back. If someone had used and placed my gun at the scene of the crime, then it certainly wasn't me who did it.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"So you stayed behind at the precinct to investigate something that happened there that day," the judge surmised. "And that was when you lost your gun that you had put inside your office. I find that somewhat hard to believe."

"I admit that it is a bit of a hard tale to swallow," Detective Ace stated with his arms crossed. "However, I must admit that it's the complete truth here."

"That's what you said to us before we caught you lying between your teeth about where you were that night," Sonic countered. "It kind of brings some suspicion on your overall ability as a witness. I still don't understand why you would want to lie about something as simple as to where you were."

"Then how about you go ahead and start cross-examining the good detective?" Shadow suggested with a small snort of his breath. "I don't think that you're going to be going anywhere just standing there looking pretty."

"Why do you think the detective lied about where he was?" Tails asked his older brother as he tried to make sense of everything. "He really does have no reason. He could've just said at the beginning that he was at the precinct until the call came."

"I can only think of one reason on why he did that," the cobalt hedgehog responded with his jaw set firmly. "He did it so that he could hide the tracks he made that night. He's the one who murdered Ms. Vulpin. I know my argument practically has nothing to stand on; but if I can just find something more substantial to use against him, then I should be able to make my indictment stick."

"Good luck with that one," the young fox said with a small sigh. "Even I have no idea how you're going to be able to pull that one off."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Before I start with my actual questioning, I have to ask you something that I'm sure everybody in this court wants an answer to," Sonic said without any hesitation. "Why would you, a detective who practically knows that lying under oath can cost you your job, say that you were at one place when you were really at the other? No matter how much I think about it, I can't see any reason, petty or otherwise, that you would do something like that."

"I lied for the sake of the police department," Detective Ace stated without any hesitation as he crossed his arms. "I didn't want them to have to face the embarrassment of having suffered from a mistake they made that night."

"A police department mistake?" the judge repeated with a raised eyebrow at this statement. "This is why you lied about your location so that you could cover for them and take the fall yourself?"

"The police department is practically my second family," the wolf explained while staying in his same stance. "As an older brother figure of sorts for them, I would gladly take the fall for any kind of problem that might cause them to be put under a dark cloud in the eyes of the general public."

"And just what was this problem that you felt was worth committing perjury to cover up for the department?" Shadow asked as he licked at his lips a bit, clearly curious himself as to why the witness went through all this trouble to lie. "Don't tell me that a murder happened in there and that you wanted to keep it under wraps."

"Oh, it was nothing of that magnitude. No, it was basically a robbery that occurred inside the weapons department."

"The weapons department was robbed that night?" the old man exclaimed with surprise clear in his voice. This also took the audience off guard as they started to talk amongst themselves about this new revelation. The judge had to bang on his gavel a few times before they quieted down once again.

"This is exactly what I wanted to try and avoid. I ask that the public and everybody else in this court to not worry. What was stolen from our weapons department was hardly anything that could be used to cause any kind of damage. It's hardly anything that any of us should really be fretting over with worry. Why someone would want to steal a piece of weaponry that's worthless on its own, I have no idea. However, I can say that we suspect an officer or detective who committed the thievery."

"And just what exactly was this thing that was stolen from the department?" the cobalt hedgehog asked, curious as to what it was the thief wanted. "It must have been well worth the risk for them if they stole it from right under your noses."

"It was something of no importance that doesn't have any kind of relation, big or small, to this case whatsoever. Everybody in the department can attest to that if you don't believe me on this which I suspect to be the case."

"Mr. Sonic, I'm inclined to believe the detective on this despite the lie he told the court earlier. The robbery happened before the murder of Ms. Vulpin had occurred, so I don't see any reason for you to be pursuing this line of questioning. I ask that you stop now and move on to something else."

"Yes, Your Honor," the defense attorney responded as he fell back on his question. And he was curious as to what had been stolen from right under the police's nose. "If I might ask, what time was it that the theft was reported? I would suspect it was somewhere between the time you returned and when the murder happened."

"It was reported just a few seconds after I had received that call about the gang problem," the witness responded as he thought back to the events that unfolded at the department that night. "I happened to have been talking with Detective Silver at the time, so he'll be able to vouch for me on that regard."

"And what was he doing at the department that night?"

"He was filling in as my secretary that night. My regular secretary had to leave early due to a family emergency, and Silver said that he would be happy to fill in for her since he was still on schedule and didn't have much to do at the time. I was against it, but he insisted, and who am I to reject the wishes of a man who so willingly wants to take on the duties of another? He truly is a very diligent man and worthy of his newly acquired title of senior detective."

"If he was filling in as your personal secretary that night, then wouldn't that mean that he would have to be rather close to your office?" Tails asked as he thought about the answer just given to them. "That does make a lot of sense since he'd practically have to be sending forms and other stuff to you."

"I understand perfectly well just where it is that you're planning to go with this question assistant," Detective Ace countered before the fox had a chance to even voice his main thought. "You're thinking along the lines that since he was sitting behind that desk that's situated within close distance to my office door, he should've been able to have prevented the theft of my gun. That is what you were thinking, were you?"

"More or less," the young fox responded as he tried to act like he was not fazed by how spot on the man was with his answer. "It would be rather hard to steal a gun from right under his nose since your office is most likely off limits to everybody."

"Unfortunately for you, that argument isn't going to stay alive any longer. You see, I had invited him to have a short coffee break with me at the staff lounge away from the desk area. You could ask Silver himself whether or not I'm telling the truth here."

"Might I suggest that the defense abandon any and all thoughts that they have about that accursed gun?" Shadow asked with a small sigh. "It's clear that you're trying to find something through a contradiction you've already raised once before with it. You should realize by now that that tactic doesn't seem to be wielding you any results."

"The court agrees with the defense on this one," the judge stated as he banged at his gavel. "Mr. Sonic, I ask that you and your assistant stop with your questioning about the gun. At this point, all you're bringing up with it are pointless thoughts and conjectures that you're failing to prove to be correct."

"I know what it is that you're trying to do here attorney. You're trying to find a single flaw in my testimony in order to use it against me. Even though my words may not be well trusted in the eyes of this courtroom right now, everything I've said can be backed up through other witnesses. You try any harder to pin me for more perjury, and your head's bound to explode from the pressure."

"I would like to get one thing straight here," Sonic continued on as he balled his hands into fists at the detective's rather cocky attitude. "The court asked you for this testimony for one reason and one reason only. We wanted to know whether or not you were at the police department in the minutes before the murder happened."

"And I believe that I've stated everything in regards to that," Detective Ace responded with a smile that seemed somewhat smug and a small shrug of his shoulders. "Everything that I have said in this testimony can easily be backed up by the statements of others, as I have so said earlier. All you'd have to do is ask them yourself."

"So you are claiming with this testimony that you never once set foot outside of the police department even after you received that first call about a gang disturbance?" the hedgehog asked, wanting to make sure he had all of his facts straight. "You are also claiming that Detective Silver and other members of the force would be able to vouch for the fact that you stayed in there until news of Ms. Vulpin's death reached your ears?"

"I'm pretty sure we've already established that fact over the last few minutes Sonic," the ebon furred hedgehog stated with a roll of his eyes. He then added as he lightly tugged at the ends of his gloves, "There's no need to be acting like an echo in a dark and empty cave. If you're going to stand over there and claim that the detective wasn't at the department as he has so been claiming for the past few minutes, then I would like to see some proof. Show me that or don't open your mouth about it at all."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Everything that the witness has said in this testimony leads us to believe that he was at the police department for that half hour before the victim was murdered," Sonic said as he stated the conclusion all of the statements pointed to. "He claims to have witnesses back at the department to vouch for him. However, I have a piece of evidence that is concrete enough to throw all those supposed vouches out the window!"

"Ha, and how do you expect to pull off a feat as miraculous as that?" Detective Ace asked, clearly not amused with how persistent the defense was at trying to tear apart his testimony. "I don't see how you can muster something of that magnitude."

"Then allow for me to humor you and show you this evidence that will expose your testimony for the lie that it is!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he took Silver's Testimony into his hands and placed it underneath the overhead projector. "I have here on screen testimony supplied to me by Detective Silver himself. He admits that he was with you at the time when you got that call about the gang incident. However, he also says that you left the police department soon after that. He never said anything about you staying behind or even returning back to take care of a theft in the evidence room!"

"What?" the detective exclaimed as he whipped his head around to face the defense attorney. Even Shadow seemed somewhat shocked by this as he began to stare daggers into the defense team. "Silver really said that to you? How could you believe such a pretentious little liar from a cocky fresh senior detective like him?"

"First of all, I hardly think that Detective Silver is the kind to be flashy or cocky," the attorney stated in a sure tone as he quickly tried to defend Silver's name from being slandered. "Secondly, you told us earlier that he could vouch for you in terms that you were at the police department for that half hour before the murder happened. If that's so, then why would you now call him a liar and claim that this statement of his is a byproduct of said deception? I can only think of one reason why that would be, and that's because you're right now trying to cover up your tracks! You were never in the police department investigating the weapons theft to begin with after that incident call came through! Rather, you had left right after that call had connected to you, just as Detective Silver stated to us!"

"Damn it!" the witness exclaimed as he suddenly brought his left arm to his right shoulder as if he had just been shot there. He then added in a sort of desperate tone that made his words not sound believable, "Why the hell would you all actually fall for such a transparent lie out of his lying mouth?"

"Detective Ace!" the judge exclaimed sharply and sternly as he pounded at his gavel in a sort of angry fashion, clearly not buying the feigned innocence attempted to be projected. "This is very unbecoming of you! I will only ask you this question once: Were you or were you not at the police department for the thirty minutes before Ms. Vulpin was killed? The court demands an answer from you immediately!"

"I... I was... That is to say... Grr, fine, I wasn't at the stupid police department at the time!" Detective Ace exclaimed rather childishly with both his fists simultaneously pounding at the podium as the fur on his forehead started to get slightly damp with sweat. "That's what you wanted to hear come out of my mouth, right? You all now heard that I lied once again here in front of all of you! Are you all happy now?"

Upon hearing another confession of a lie, the courtroom went into another murmuring frenzy. This one was a bit harder for the judge to quell down due to the severity of this new revelation. He had to threaten to kick any and all bystanders out if they did not cease with the needless talking anytime soon.

"Detective, the court demands an immediate explanation about this! You have been caught lying not once but twice to us under oath today already. This is beginning to cast serious doubt in both your testimony and your overall relation to this case. I will ask you this question one more time; just where was it that you were at during those thirty minutes? And I will not condone any more lies on this matter or I will petition the chief of police to have your badge stripped away from you entirely!"

"I object Your Honor!" Shadow spoke up before the detective had a chance to answer the question. "It's clear to the court at this point in time that Detective Ace has yet again lied about his whereabouts at the minutes before the crime. The prosecution is more than ready to concede to this fact. However, I don't really see any real point beyond our idle curiosity in asking the witness about where he really was at that time. I understand where the defense is planning on going with this demand. They're thinking that if he wasn't at the middle of town or in the police department as he had claimed earlier, then he could only have been at Midnight Park murdering his beloved fiancée. The only problem with their thought process is that it lacks the backing to even propel it off the ground. He could've been down at the local strip club enjoying his last days as a free man for all we know. Where is their proof that their unsaid claim even has the chance of seeing the light of reality?"

"P-proof?" Sonic stuttered out as he recoiled a bit from the rather strong counterattack and sweat dropping a bit at the comment about a strip club. "You want p-proof that he was even at the park then?"

"If you are planning to go accusing the good detective here of murdering the victim, then you should first provide us with evidence that says so," the ebon hedgehog stated with a slight smirk on his face when he saw the attorney's reaction. "Do you feel you have enough to prove that such a possibility exists?"

"Uh, o-of course I have proof that the detective was at Midnight Park when the murder happened!" the cobalt hedgehog responded as he tried to hide the slight squeak of uncertainty in his voice with an attempt at both a cocky smile and attitude. "Do you really think I'd be making a claim like this if I didn't?"

"Then let's go ahead and see you put your money where your mouth is," the prosecutor stated as he caught the uncertainty in the other's voice and his smirk only grew a bit more from there. He then commanded as he slammed his desk with his left hand for added emphasis, "Show this court the evidence that'll prove your scenario to be a plausible reality of what occurred that night!"

"Are you sure you have it Sonic?" Tails asked, clearly skeptical on whether or not they even had the evidence on them that could directly tie Detective Ace to the murder. "Do you really have something like that?"

"I don't care whether or not there's a lack of evidence," he told his little brother as he tried to recover from the curveball the prosecutor suddenly threw at him. "I'm convinced that this detective was the one who murdered Ms. Vulpin. I'm not going to back off until I prove it to this court! I just hope that there really isn't a lack of evidence or I'll be bluffing my way right into a brick wall!"

"Mr. Sonic, the court is waiting for an answer," the judge stated in a stern voice that was no doubt a result from both his anger at the detective and the lack of an immediate response. "Do you have any evidence that proves Detective Ace was in fact at Midnight Park when the murder occurred?"

"Ha, as if he even has anything like that up his sleeve!" Detective Ace stated rather rudely as his nostrils were flaring a bit. "I'm sure that he probably would've saved us all the agony of this if he had it all this time."

"I would suppose then that it'll cause you more agony if I told you that I actually had something that can prove you were at the crime scene that evening," Sonic said as he tried his best to sound as convincing as possible as he remembered the things covered and revealed in the previous testimonies.

"What?" the detective exclaimed as he recoiled a bit as if he had just gotten shot. "You're bluffing; I know you are! I can see it in your eyes! You don't have anything on me that can tie me to being at Midnight Park at the time of my fiancée's murder!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you," the cobalt hedgehog stated as an idea suddenly popped into his mind. He then said with his eyes all aglow, "I'm more than sure that your gun here would be more than enough to tie you to the scene."

"Objection, Your Honor!" Shadow countered with a slam of his hands. "The defense can't possibly prove that the witness was there at that exact time with his own gun! They're merely just trying to stall for time!"

"And I object to your objection Shadow! This gun _does_ prove that he was there at that exact time. If you think back to the beginning when we first cross-examined Detective Ace, we practically started it out with the question of how his gun came to be at the scene of the crime after Mr. Woker made his call. From that point on, our witness here has been making one excuse after the other in an attempt to fill in the doubts surrounding the loss of his gun. Surely, that would be more than enough to say where he was that evening!"

"But the gun wasn't at the scene of the crime when the murder was first called in!" the ebon hedgehog countered again. "You just said so yourself! What you've just said can hardly be considered proof."

"I'm afraid the prosecution is right on this Mr. Sonic," the judge agreed with his eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. "The fact that the detective has been making up lies about his whereabouts at that night is hardly evidence he was even at the park. Do you have anything else in your procession that you feel might be able to substantiate your claim?"

"If the gun claim doesn't work, then how about we look at this from a slightly different angle?" the attorney asked as he pulled out the bullet he received from the Chaotix Detective Agency two days ago. "We've already proven yesterday that this bullet along with the one that killed Ms. Vulpin were fired from the Handgun that belongs to the witness here. However, if we were to compare this fact with what we've heard throughout Detective Ace's testimony, things just end up contradicting each other."

"Oh no!" the prosecutor exclaimed as he understood where Sonic was going with the gun now. "You're not saying that..."

"I see that you finally understand what I'm saying now. As I said earlier, this gun is the reason why we were even cross-examining the witness in the first place. When confronted with the fact that this was his gun found at the scene, he immediately started to lie about what he did in the minutes leading up to the murder of the victim. Why he did so at the time was not apparent to us at the time. However, we've already established that he's lied to us twice about his whereabouts, and he also lied about his gun having been stolen. The only reason why he would lie about these two things is because he didn't want us to know that he had in fact went to Midnight Park at the time before the murder!"

"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!" Detective Ace suddenly yelled out with his hands repeatedly pounding on the podium as if he were having a tantrum, causing the entire courtroom to rest their attention on him in stunned silence. "I've never heard of such a terribly hatched harebrained story in my entire life! It's nothing but an elaborately created lie fitting for a desperate criminal, I tell you! It's nothing but a big, fat humongous lie!"

"...You say it's a lie; I ask if you have anything to say that would counter what I've just stated to the court," Sonic stated calmly as he tried to keep his breath steady from the sudden outburst and show of ferocity that was almost animal-like. "Do you have anything that could prove what I just said didn't happen?"

"Oh, I have plenty to say about that, you filthy lying attorney!" the detective exclaimed as he was visibly trying his best from making another uncalled outburst. "For one thing, you haven't even proved that those bullets even have anything with me being at the park! All you've been doing is waving that gun around and saying things as if they were the magic words that would give you the answers you so desire!"

"Alright, then let me go ahead and finish off my explanation that you interrupted me on," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he continued where he left off. "As I was saying earlier, you lied about two things earlier, where you were and the loss of your gun. I conclude that you still had your gun on you at the time, and I have reasonable confidence that you were at Midnight Park at the time in question! My reason for saying so is the two bullets found at the scene. As proven, you never had a chance for your gun to have been stolen. That would then stand to reason that you still had it on you. In short, only you would've had the capability to have made those shots into the evidence that they are today!"

"Ha, as if that were even close to the truth! And even if it were, I'm afraid that you missing a crucial point to be pinning this whole thing on me. I'm sure that the good prosecutor knows what I'm talking about here."

"He's talking about motive Sonic," Shadow stated with a small intake of breath before slowly letting it out. "While you have presented to us more than enough to show what you say might be a plausible reality, you have failed to have established a motive as to why the detective here would want to have his fiancée dead. And if you would just take one second to think about it, I'm sure you'll see why it's more than improbable."

"I must agree with the prosecution," the judge stated as he was deep in thought again. "It has been made clear even before this case came to be that both the victim and the witness were deeply in love with each other. It hardly makes any sense that a man so enamored with another would want to kill them."

"Y-yeah, that's pretty true," the attorney admitted with a sheepish smile as he scratched at the back of his ear. "But just because there isn't an established motive at first doesn't mean that the evidence presented can't prove an indictment to be true."

"However, it is highly unorthodox to go accusing anybody without even revealing something that could prove to be a possible motive," the ebon furred hedgehog countered with his arms crossed. "If you're going to keep this up without an established motive, then I'm afraid that you're going to have a very hard road ahead of you. Do you have anything completely damning in nature that could say Detective Ace was the one who murdered his fiancée? The court is all ears for your answer."

"Shadow's right Sonic," Tails spoke up as he began reviewing the evidence that they had and heard of during the entire court case. "Not having a motive really puts a damper on our case here. We don't have anything to cross-reference to without something that could pass as one. How are you going to find the evidence needed to prove beyond a doubt that he murdered Ms. Vulpin?"

"The court is waiting for an answer Mr. Sonic," the judge spoke up as he banged his gavel as an order to get an immediate answer. "Despite having no established motive, do you have any evidence that can show Detective Ace was in fact the person to have stolen the life of Ms. Vulpin in Midnight Park that night?"

"I-I... I...don't have any evidence of that nature at this time Your Honor."

"Ha, I knew that you were only trying to bluff your way out of this!" Detective Ace spat out as he had a very cocky smirk on his face. "You never had anything on me from the moment that we set foot into this courtroom. So what if I was caught in the middle of a couple little lies? They clearly don't add up to me murdering my fiancée. I emphatically say that I am innocent in this murder! I would have never killed her in such a fashion, and you have nothing that would say otherwise on the subject."

"So sorry Sonic," the prosecutor responded with a wag of his finger that showed he was not anywhere near genuinely sorry. "It looks like you ended up a penny short on your claim. I must admit, however, that you did put up a rather valiant fight for your client."

"It seems as though the defense has failed to uphold their end of the argument that they brought up," the old man stated with a shake of his head. "In light of this fact, I cannot allow you to continue indicting the witness. As such," he continued on as he banged on his gavel, "I hereby put an end to the cross-examination of Detective Ace!"

"I told you that I wasn't the one who murdered Teela," the detective stated with a rather small strange chuckle emanating from his throat. "Even the judge believes it to be so. It's time for you to stop making up stories and accept the facts."

_Damn you!_ Sonic thought as he balled his hands into fists in anger and used all of his self-control to not bang down on the table like a child suffering from a temper tantrum. _You're hiding behind nothing but a veil of lies. If only I had a motive to put over your head, then maybe I can expose the truth buried behind your web of lies. I'm sorry Knuckles; it looks like this is one fight that I can't win._

"...I object, Your Honor!" a voice suddenly cut through the small window of silence that came about after the detective had finished speaking.

"Wh-who said that?" the judge asked as he tried to pinpoint who it was that spoke up after his decision. "Was that you Mr. Shadow?"

"I hardly have anything of relative worth to be objecting to at this time Your Honor," Shadow responded with his arms still crossed. "I'm simply waiting here for you to make your ruling on this case."

"I-I'm the one who objected Your Honor," Tails spoke up as he raised his hand somewhat hesitantly.

"And on what grounds do you raise one assistant?" Detective Ace asked with a raised eyebrow as his nostrils began to flare again. "I don't think I need to remind you that the judge just ended my cross-examination. You can't ask me anything else anymore."

"I would suspect that is what you would like to think," the two tailed fox responded as he tried to stay on the offensive for reasons beyond Sonic's understanding at this point. "However, I'm afraid that we still have the right to ask you questions."

"I don't think I really understand what it is that you mean here," the judge responded in a confused tone with raised eyebrows. "The cross-examination has already ended. There couldn't possibly be anything left to ask of the witness."

"Under normal circumstances, that would clearly be the case. However, just before the judge called the end to the cross-examination, you decided to make a couple more remarks that have yet to be heard in this courtroom. If I remember correctly, you said that you're innocent in the murder of your fiancée. You also said that you didn't kill her 'in such a fashion', yet that statement itself is too vague to just leave alone without asking further questions. I ask that the defense be allowed to exercise their right to cross-examine these past few statements the witness himself has just made!"

"As if you have the power to ask the judge to revoke his own ruling on the matter!" the detective stated with a sharp spit of his breath. "You've lost the right to make any such claim of more cross-examination the moment His Honor ruled that it was over. Saying anything more on the subject might lead you to be in contempt of court."

"Your Honor, I ask that you allow the defense's request to be followed through," the ebon furred hedgehog suggested, taking both the defense and the witness off guard with his request. "While I am the prosecution on this case, I don't want to end up winning when there's still the possibility of loose ends that still need to be tied up. The defense is right when they say that some new remarks were made just before your ruling, so I ask that you allow for them to cross-examine these statements."

"Wh-what are you think you're doing prosecutor?" the witness asked as he stuttered over his words, clearly beginning to panic again at being ganged up from both sides of the courtroom. "I thought that you were supposed to be on my side here preventing me from being accused of such a crime! Why are you going against me now?"

"Funny, I never said anything about being on anybody's side here. While it may be true I was hired by the state to persecute the defendant, the only side I choose every time I enter any case is the side of truth and justice. That is simply what I'm doing right now.

"However, if Your Honor is going to allow the defense's request to become accepted into the court, then I have a condition that they first must agree to," the prosecutor added as he looked at Sonic and Tails. "If you are allowed to cross-examine the witness's testimony, then you are to not waste any time picking it apart in search for information. We've already used up enough time listening to you try to find things to indict the witness with. There will be no harassing or needless picking of details. So what do you say? Do you accept these conditions?"

"Well, I've done all that I could for you here," Tails whispered to his older brother as he flashed him a smile. "I found a way to buy you some more time to get Detective Ace on the hook for this murder. It's up to you to do the rest."

"Tails...," Sonic whispered back, clearly amazed at what his little brother managed to do for the sake of their case. He was clearly a force to be reckoned with both inside and out of the court. After a couple of seconds of shocked silence, he regained his composure and stated to the court with a confident look on his face, "The defense is more than happy to accept the prosecution's condition provided that the court allows our request to be considered."

"Hmm," the judge thought long and hard on the situation presented to him by the two tailed fox. After a couple of seconds, he finally came to a decision and banged his gavel. "After considering it for a few seconds, I have decided to allow the defense's request to break through. I warn you, however, that this will be the final testimony that the court will hear from the detective. Take note that I also take the side of the prosecution in that I will not be condoning any needling whatsoever of the witness's statements. Now what is it that you would like to ask of him based on the statements he made before I ended the cross-examination?"

"Well...," the cobalt hedgehog stated as he tried to quickly think of a question to ask before his chance flew away from him. "How about...we hear him testify about why it is that he's innocent of the crime and his statement about the victim being killed 'in such a fashion.' The defense would like for Detective Ace to further elaborate on these statements and make the vague into something clear!"

"Very well, the witness will testify to the court about these statements!" the old man ordered as he banged at his gavel.

"F-fine," the detective reluctantly agreed, his mouth forming a scowl as a very audible growl left the back of his throat. He then said as he began to wring his hands rather nervously, "I hardly see how pursuing their right to hear out my explanation on my words would help them win their case, but I'll do as you ask Your Honor."

_**What I Really Meant  
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When I said that I was innocent of this murder, I mean that I didn't kill my fiancée. For one thing, you have no evidence that I was anywhere near that park at the time. So what if you caught me in a couple of lies here in court? Those lies do not add up to a fact that says I was there that night. And when I said she was killed in such a fashion, I was merely talking about how she died. A bullet to her chest is basically a way of shattering both our hearts while stealing away her ever fragile life. And to think that the murderer would've killed her in such a secretive fashion... Why kill her with a gun as quietly as possible with a muffler of sorts if they intended to have her body found? This is simply what I was referring to when I made those statements. Now do you see how they are anything but suspicious?

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Hmm, this testimony sounds quite concrete in all aspects," the judge stated after listening intently to it. "It couldn't possibly have been staged since we just so suddenly asked him to testify about it. I'm inclined to believe that what he said is a truth and there's nothing in it that contradicts the evidence in our possession as of now. Why, I hardly even see the need for the defense to go on with their cross-examination!"

"Which is exactly why I put up that condition before you allowed them to hear this pointless testimony," Shadow stated with a shake of his head at the monumental waste of time demonstrated just now. "With nothing of contradictory nature in his statements, I don't see how the defense is going to be able to pull anything out of this one."

"B-but I still have the right to cross-examine the testimony!" Sonic spoke up, not wanting the efforts his brother put in into making this happen go to waste.

"Yet I find little point in you doing so," the old man responded with a shake of his head at the attorney's apparent show of desperation. "If you really so wish to continue on with it, then I only ask that you keep in mind the deal you made with both the court and the prosecutor. You are not allowed to badger, stall, or senselessly needle the witness's testimony for any more information."

"I suggest that you start figuring out what it is that you want to put on your tombstone Sonic," the prosecutor stated teasingly with a small snide chuckle. "It looks like you're going to need it upon your early retirement from law."

_Very funny Shadow,_ the cobalt hedgehog thought somewhat bitterly as his shoulders slumped down a bit. _You always were the type to always find some dark humor whenever I get into situations like this. And the bad part about this is that I probably will need a tombstone after I die from the stress of this._

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"How the hell am I going to do this Tails?" Sonic exclaimed in a soft whining tone with a hint of worry in his words as he looked at his little brother. "The judge is right on this. There isn't anything that I can use my evidence to contradict Detective Ace on! And to top it all off, I can't press the guy on anything or they'll stop the cross-examination. What am I supposed to do here?"

"Well," Tails said with a sheepish smile as he thought about what it was they could do at this point. "Maybe if you pressed the guy on something that he said that's way too important for the court to even think about stopping you on, then you just might have a chance at making this work."

"And just what the heck am I going to be pressing him on?" the cobalt hedgehog hissed through clenched teeth as he saw the detective shooting him a rather defiant smile that would make anybody want to walk up to him and smack it right off. "He said way too many things in there, most of them facts with only a handful of conjectures. I doubt that the conjectures would be able to blow up an opening for us."

"There has to be something we can use in there," the fox stated as he thought back to the unfortunately long testimony. "It might be a long shot, but what if he was being too truthful with his testimony? What if he said something that either he or the court shouldn't theoretically know about yet? Maybe we'll be able to break through then."

"Mr. Sonic, the court is starting to get tired of just watching you and your assistant speak amongst yourselves in a rather secretive fashion," the judge sternly said as he started to lift his gavel in a threatening manner. "If you have nothing of immediate importance to ask the witness concerning his testimony at this time, then I must ask that you immediately discontinue with your cross-examination."

"Oh, I-I already know what it is that I want to ask Detective Ace. I'm just...trying to figure out how to phrase the question is all."

"A likely story Sonic," Shadow stated with a scoff of his breath and a smirk that showed he knew the defense attorney was currently panicking. "Don't forget that you're not allowed to go needling the witness on anything. Don't go wasting all of our time on something that you might already know the answer to."

"D-Detective Ace, there's something that I want to ask you about concerning a statement in your testimony," Sonic spoke up as he tried to draw out his words in an attempt to try and find something case breaking.

"And what exactly is it that you would want to waste your only question asking me about?" the detective asked with a smirk that seemed to indicate he already knew that he won this battle before it had even started.

"Well, there was...one part of your testimony that was still a bit too vague for my liking," the cobalt hedgehog said as he finally figured out something that the detective had just said. "To be more specific, I'm talking about when you said something about a muffler on a gun. Do you mind telling me what it is that you mean by that?"

"There's only one way to muffle up the sound of a bullet being shot out of a gun, and that is to put a removable muffler enhancement over the nozzle of the gun. It doesn't completely drown out the sound, but you'd have to be damn ass close to the shooter to hear it. That's what I meant when Teela was killed in such a fashion. She was killed in such an underhanded way and left alone as if she were nothing but a piece of trash."

_It's not much, but it's the only thing I have to go on,_ the defense attorney thought as he heard this explanation. _That and I just wasted my only question on this. If I'm right though, then this should be enough to get me out of this._

"And how exactly is this supposed to be helpful to our case?" the prosecutor asked with his arms crossed and clearly not amused at how this information brought up nothing. "I don't see anything of use in there."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Then maybe you should learn how to look closer at what he just said," Sonic stated as he suddenly grew confident in what he was thinking. "Detective Ace, what you have just said is something that the court has had no knowledge of up to this point. You said that she was killed by some kind of gun enhancement that dulls down the sound of a bullet shot."

"To be perfectly honest, this is also the first time I ever heard of something like this," the judge admitted as he looked at the official transcripts of testimonies and cross-examinations past to see if there was any mention of this. "Not once has the court been graced with information such as this."

"Are you sure about that?" Detective Ace asked with raised eyebrows. "Funny, the police department knows about this fact already. I find it strange that they know of it and everybody in here doesn't."

"Actually, it's more strange that you seem to be the only one who even knows about this fact!" the cobalt hedgehog stated as he finally caught the detective in the deadliest lie that would prove to be his undoing.

"Wh-what?" the detective stuttered as he seemed genuinely confused as to what he was talking about. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about. The police department should know about it. After all, I know about it, and I'm one of the highest senior detectives that was at that scene investigating it."

"Sonic, I'm afraid that we're all lost here," Shadow stated nonchalantly, but his face told a different story as it held a small frown on it that seemed to indicate he knew where this was going. "I know we've said against this earlier, but might I ask that you present evidence showing us what you're talking about? I suspect that this will be the only way to get a true answer out of you."

"Alright, then let me go ahead and show you what I believe this muffler really is!" the attorney stated as he took hold of the Silencer and held it up for the court to see. "This was found in the bushes around the scene of the crime and has signs that it has been used once before. The police clearly didn't know about this or even found it there because it's right now in my own possession. Otherwise, it would be with them right now and we would've known about this a long time ago. I would suspect that this is what the detective was talking about when he said the victim was killed with a muffler over the murder weapon. So now I ask him the key question; how was it that you knew that the victim was killed with a gun most likely enhanced with this Silencer found at the scene?"

"I-I...!" the detective stuttered as his hands balled up into a fist once more.

"Objection Your Honor!" the ebon furred hedgehog countered as he pounded at his desk in frustration. "The fact that the witness here seems to be the only one who knows anything about the Silencer at the scene doesn't prove anything about him being there at the time of the murder! He simply could've forgotten about it when he was summoned back to the station for an internal investigation."

"It still stands to reason that he would've told another officer or detective on the scene to pick it up for him. That is what he could've simply done if he had _seen it there before_ and _known where it was_."

"I-If I had known where it was and saw it at the crime scene?" the witness repeated with a slight stutter to his words as he started to wring his hands nervously. "With the way you say it, it's almost as if I went to the s-scene of the crime under the guise of investigating in order to remove evidence."

"You had no idea where the Silencer for the gun you used to murder the victim was at when you got there," the cobalt attorney explained as he attacked at the small opening with everything he had. "You also still had the murder weapon on you, so you figured that you would kill two birds with one stone! You would plant the gun at the scene of the crime and go searching for this thing! The only thing that got in your way was the fact that you had no idea where it had disappeared to. That is why you knew about this Silencer that nobody should theoretically know about! You couldn't go asking the others to look for it without having to come up with some excuse as to how you knew the weapon enhancement was even at the scene. You were the only one who knew about its existence and failed to say anything to your fellow officers. As such, this could only mean that you were the one who murdered Ms. Vulpin in the park on the night in question! Only the murderer would know beyond a doubt that a muffler of sorts was used in conjunction with the murder weapon at the time of the crime!"

"...You think you're so good, do you?" Detective Ace asked in a rhetorical fashion with his hands still in a fist. He then let out a small chuckle that son erupted into a full on laugh that sounded like it was out of desperation. "You think that because you managed to officially peg me as a murderer, you're all of a sudden a hot-shot attorney? Well let me tell you something here buster; Teela thought she could peg me on for being a cheater because of these various phone numbers of females in my cell phone! If you don't want to end up like her, then I suggest that you shut up right now!"

"...I suppose we can consider this an official confession of guilt from you," the judge stated as he watched in stunned silence along with the rest of the courtroom. It was not every day after all that an officer of the law is confirmed to be a murderer in such a fashion. "I never would've thought that I would actually witness an actual detective not only profusely lying under oath but also suspected and confessing to a murder! This will most certainly raise a big stink within the entire police department. I still can't believe it."

"At least I can say that we managed to find a plausible motive for him wanting to murder his fiancée," Shadow stated with a small sigh and a shake of his head as he seemingly conceded the fact that he had just lost courtesy to the detective's rather sudden confession. "Although I can't say that it's something that is really that believable in any sense of the word. Why would one want to kill the woman they love after they figured out that the numbers of women were in their cell phone? The only thing that I can come up with is that they aren't really numbers of people that he was cheating on her with. Rather, they were numbers that were meant to have been hidden from her the entire time. This would most likely be his motive for wanting to have killer her in that park that night!"

"And even the prosecution is going against me on this," the detective stated in a sort of defeated voice as his shoulders slumped and he leaned against the podium for support. "I guess this is a sign that I really did just lose this game of cat and mouse with you all that I tried so hard to win at."

"Uh, it's kind of your fault that you got caught since you decided to go ahead and admit it to all of us," Sonic stated with a sweat drop falling from the back of his neck. "You just suddenly decided to have made it easier on us to get you."

"Hey, do you think that I really wanted to murder her in the first place?" the witness questioned suddenly as he banged down at the witness podium for no apparent reason. "I never wanted her to be killed in the first place. I really was in love with her this entire time! I would never let the thought of murdering her cross my mind. If only she didn't decide to go flipping through my phone, then I probably wouldn't have had to have killed her."

"Just what exactly is it that you're talking about detective?" the judge asked with raised eyebrows at the curious statement. "What do you mean about those numbers your fiancée found on your phone? Why did you have to kill her by the simple fact that she laid eyes on it? Surely you could've resolved your unfaithful ways by talking to her. And wouldn't it normally be the other way around in that she would have killed you after finding and calling those numbers?"

"It wasn't that she had just laid eyes on them. She actually went ahead and called all of them, every single one of them. It was because of that I was ordered to kill her. They were not a bunch of women's numbers that the prosecution has said they were. I never wanted to do it, but they threatened to kill me and my family along with her if I didn't do so. I'm tired of running from what I've done, but I just can't say anything more about it. There's just too much at stake for me to say any more than I've already stated."

"What are you talking about witness?" the old man questioned as he became even more confused. "I'm afraid that the court has no idea as to what you're saying. You'll have to clarify for the sake of the court."

"Your Honor, I ask that the witness be placed under protective custody immediately following the end of this case!" the ebon furred hedgehog suddenly announced with a slight sense of urgency in his words. "While he may be the actual murderer in this case, he is also a very valuable witness in another. He has just admitted to it himself! He's just placed himself in grave danger and needs immediate daily protection!"

Upon this sudden outburst, the entire court began to talk amongst themselves in a confused manner. While they have all just heard that the witness had both confessed to the crime and provided a motive as to why he did so, they were now wondering why it was that the prosecutor now wanted to place him under protective custody. Jail was a safe a place for any criminal as it could have been, and the need for protective custody should be nonexistent. Even Sonic and Tails were confused as to why the normally calm and collected Shadow suddenly seemed quite excited and perhaps nervous.

"Order in the court!" the judge commanded as he banged on his gavel repeatedly to quell the confused crowd. "I said order! I do not want to suspend proceedings at this point, but I will if this courtroom doesn't quiet down right this instant! Would you explain what the meaning of this sudden request is Mr. Shadow?"

"Do you mind telling the court what it is that the detective is involved in that you would want him to be well protected?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with raised eyebrows at how the prosecutor was suddenly trying to find a way to protect the detective once the noise quieted down somewhat.

"I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to talk about it under any circumstances unless told otherwise by my higher up. However, if you would please put him under intense protective custody after this case is over, I promise to give Your Honor the necessary paperwork to explain my demands."

"You obviously know what it is that I'm tied to right now," Detective Ace said with a small sigh as he looked at the prosecutor. "Then you should also know that there just isn't anywhere for me to hide no matter how much security you place around me. They always find a way to take out any potential traitors. They always do."

"Well, let's just say that I have a feeling they're not going to be able to get their hands on you. Anyway, if you would please now announce the verdict Your Honor? I would like for this to be over with as soon as possible for the sake of the safety of the detective."

"Umm, I still don't understand what it is that you just claimed, but I do believe that I have heard more than enough to be more than sure that the detective was the one who murdered the victim," the judge admitted before he assumed his professional demeanor once more before delivering his verdict. "Under all the evidence and the confession that we have just heard, the court is now ready to reach a final decision. On behalf of the court, I hereby declare the defendant, Detective Knuckles, not guilty in the murder of Ms. Teela Vulpin! That is all for both today and this case. Court is now adjourned! And Mr. Shadow, I ask that you wait in here so that you can explain to me what it is you mean by witness protection."

With the pound of his gavel, the case was officially closed and everybody began to file out of the room. Shadow, however, stayed behind as requested by the judge and Detective Ace stood glued to the spot as well. Being that they were not needed inside anymore, both Sonic and Tails exited the courtroom with Knuckles close behind them and headed into the waiting room where they all sat down to catch their breaths.

"Wow, I didn't think that you had it in you to get me out of that mess!" the echidna stated happily as he pumped his fists in the air in celebration. "I know I hired you and all that, but I was starting to have my doubts later on in today's trial. I was starting to think that your first case and victory was just an honest fluke with the way Shadow cornered you at times and you couldn't corner Ace."

"Gee, thanks for your vote of confidence Knuckles," Sonic deadpanned with a scowl as he slouched on one of the chairs. "That really helps a lot with my ego there."

"Happy to help!" the detective stated with a sarcastic smile as he sat down next to the hedgehog and patted him lightly on the back in appreciation. "But in all seriousness, I'm really thankful that you managed to get me out of that mess. I never would've thought that Ace of all people would be the one who actually murdered Teela! She was well known throughout the department, for god's sake! How could he do something like that to her and then go ahead and frame me for it? He even went so far as to steal my phone and put it there for the sake of making it look like I was there killing her."

"It's most likely that the call you got to investigate that disturbance that night was from him as well," Tails stated as he gave off a small sigh. "It's not like we should go worrying about it after the fact though. We're already done with it and got you out of that mess, so I rather that we just let it go behind us."

"Yeah, what I want to know is why Shadow actually went all crazy when he heard that detective confessing to why he had to murder her," the cobalt hedgehog said as he remembered the last couple of minutes before the case had officially ended. "I don't think I ever remember him acting like that before."

Just as if on cue, the doors to the courtroom opened and out came the ebon furred hedgehog with Detective Ace escorted by the court bailiff following closely behind him. The hedgehog had on a serious facial expression as he walked past the other three. He connected eyes with the defense attorney for less than a second before he walked right by without saying anything.

"I never worked with Shadow on cases before, but I know that he likes to be very careful with witnesses and evidence," Knuckles stated as he watched the prosecutor leave the waiting area and to another part of the court. "Judging by what he was saying in the courtroom at the end, Detective Ace must have some kind of connection with another case that he might be working on right now. That's the only reason why I would think he would be this excited, because he's finally found a break."

"But just what is that case if it even is about one?" the two tailed fox asked. "Do you think he'd tell us if we ask him about it when we have the chance?"

"I really doubt it," the attorney stated with a shake of his head. "For one thing, he's technically working against us, so he doesn't have any kind of obligation whatsoever to tell us anything. Secondly, he probably wouldn't tell us even if it were on a friend to friend basis. He's always been known to be kind of secretive about these things."

"Well, we never really asked him about it, so we don't really know if he's being secretive about it," the detective clarified as he got up from his seated position and stretched his arms out. "And to be honest with you, I can really care less about it. I don't know about you two, but I'm going to go ahead and get myself a bite to eat. We practically went straight through lunch with today's proceedings, and I'm hungry like crazy."

"Yeah, how about we go ahead and take a nice celebratory dinner? It'll be my treat."

"As if. I'm going to have to pay you for you representing me in court, so you're going to be paying with the money I gave you. In all honesty, it'll be me who's paying for this dinner."

"Guys, it's just dinner," the young fox stated as he let a small chuckle leave his throat. "I don't think there's really any reason to be arguing over who's paying."

His words fell on deaf ears, however, as the two teens continued to argue with each other as they made their way to the exit of the court. Following closely behind them with his head shaking in amusement, Tails stayed quiet and just simply let them handle their rather childish argument on their own. At least things were back to normal on that regard.


	7. Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 1

Hello everybody! Here is a new chapter to this story that all of you have been waiting for. Hopefully, it'll be somewhat enough to recover from the rather long wait I've been putting you all on.

I'm sorry for not updating this story and all my others for almost an entire month. A lot of things happened. I had to finish my college finals, I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled out, I had to suffer an on-off fever because of said operation, I had to schedule summer classes, I had to go to work training, and my computer got viralized and temporarily put out of commission. That's a lot of stuff to happen to one single person in just one month, and all of them are things that you don't want to have happening to you anytime soon.

Anyway, I hope that the wait for this chapter was well worth it for you all, and I hope that you will also send me some reviews on how you think this chapter is. Also, I've started on a new story that's based on Yu Gi Oh! 5D's. I titled it, "The Wayward Journey", for any of you who would like to read it. It's only the prologue right now, but it kind of helps to set the mood of what, to the reader's point of view, would be taking place in the future of the story. I hope that you'll be able to find the time to read it after you've read this new chapter.

Anyway, don't forget to leave a review before moving on to you next story. Until the next update everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Nobody would believe that Sonic was one if he didn't have it pinned proudly upon his chest. He proved that he was deserving of it despite his age after successfully completing his first career case.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. Passed the bar exam with flying colors, allowing him to earn his Attorney's Badge a year earlier than normal. Has a likable and confident attitude about him, but sometimes gets nervous when in the courtroom. He's Tails' adoptive big brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He spends most of his time in the Robotnik Law Firm where Sonic works making sure the place stays relatively clean. He doesn't go to school because of the school board recognizing his brilliant mind surpassing even the most advanced high school work.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He also knows Prosecutor Vector and his gang in his little detective agency. He sometimes works with Silver on certain cases, although he tends to be on other cases most of the time because of his lower ranking status.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old detective who worked painstakingly hard to earn his promotion to senior detective after one official year on the force in conjunction with one year of internship. He knows Knuckles and sometimes works with him on cases. He has just received a new office in conjunction with his recent promotion as reward for conducting investigations to the best of his abilities without fail.

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Dangerous Twists and Turns Part 1<strong>

"_I thought I asked for _you_ to take care of murdering that detective's meddling woman a couple of weeks ago,_" a person over a phone with a muffler on it stated more than questioned in a stern and unpleased tone. "_Why was it that Ace Sleuth himself was the one to do the deed himself and get caught in the process?_"

"_Unfortunately for me, something of great importance came up at the last minute, and I didn't have any time to call and confirm the change,_" the person on the other end of the line responded in a surprisingly calm and muffled tome despite being chastised in a harsh manner. "_You wanted the murder done half past midnight, and I was about to leave to do so right at midnight until something kept me from going. As a last ditch effort, I thought to ask one of our members who happens to have great flexibility in where it is they can move around in such a short amount of time._"

"_Hence the reason why you called the detective to take over your job, the man who I last considered calling for this. Being the position that you're in, you do have some more leniency than others in our little group. That and your ability to think quickly when the situation calls for it is what make me keep you on the payroll despite some of the trouble you bring me at times. I do find it strange at times, however, how you tend to have something important to do at moments that are very important to our cause._"

"_Well, you know how I like to work in my business, whenever there's something of great importance that I feel could be for good usage in blackmailing the owner of said damning information; I've just got to be there to obtain it. After all, the more people we have on our side helping us through means of blackmail, the better our chances of your plans taking effect without any problems._"

"_Yes, my plans do require the most help that I can get. However, there are those who are still investigating that incident from two years ago. I've already tried to get two of them accused of murder so that they wouldn't pose much of a nuisance when the time comes, but two of my own men have both failed and been caught themselves. And speaking of which, have you managed to figure out where it is that they're keeping that detective?_"

"_Unfortunately, all my friends who I have doing things around the city at both yours and my discretion cannot seem to get any kind of lead on his whereabouts whatsoever. There aren't any official records of where he might be much less any good idea. It seems like the only person who knows where he is would be that prosecutor._"

"_Hmm, this does pose a problem if he's all but disappeared from right under our noses with nobody except that prosecutor knowing where his is. If Ace decides to talk to his captor about our plans, then we'll be set back somewhat with the police no doubt turning the city upside down looking for us._"

"_Would you like for me to take care of him and have him tell us where he's hiding our dear detective friend? You know that I can easily manage that with just a simple snap of my fingers along with my blackmailing skills._"

"_No, he's right now not of highest priority. There is another specific detective, however, who poses more of a problem to us. I want you to take him out as soon as you can. I hear that he's been trying to investigate that incident from two years ago in his own time. I fear what it is that he might have already discovered about us._"

"_Just say the word sir and I'll be more than happy to kill the man with my own bare hands with no help needed whatsoever. And I'll make sure that I'll be more than free when the time for erasure comes around. Who is it that you would like for me to pin the murder on this time around?_"

"_I'm sure you already have an idea as to who I want to see behind bars. After all, in order to insure that our plans take effect, we need to take out the very root of our bane that's killing us from the outside in. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. I want you to take care of the one putting away our men. I want you to go ahead and frame..._"

_A Month later..._

"Hey Silver!" Sonic called out to the silver furred hedgehog with an excited wave of his hand as he walked past the other people and up towards him. "This is a nice little party that you threw here tonight. Are you sure you'll be able to get away with it by having it here in your office though? Wouldn't your boss drive you up the wall for this? I know Dr. Robotnik would kill me if I tried to pull something like this."

"Oh, the precinct doesn't mind so long as I don't overcrowd this office and make too much of a mess," Silver responded with a smile and a light chuckle. "And besides, the boss said that I could if I wanted to in celebration of my raise and promotion."

"How many promotions can you get in such a short amount of time?" Tails asked as he walked up to the two with a red cup filled with punch in his hand. "When first met you after a couple of years during our last case, you told us that you were a new senior detective. Now you're a senior detective with the right to work in conjunction with most prosecutors on their cases. That and you got this new office to boot as part of the promotional deal."

"Well, that's the result of countless hours of hard work," the silver furred hedgehog stated as his cheeks gained a bit of a blush to them. "To be honest, I don't think that I'm really deserving of all these promotions and stuff. It's good and all, but there are other detectives on the force that are more deserving of this than me."

"That may be true, but how many detectives do you know who would willingly work long hours into the night and emphatically ask not to be paid overtime for it?" Knuckles questioned as he happened to pass by on his way to the snacks on a nearby desk and stopped momentarily to add his two cents to the discussion. "Such a sacrifice in your personal time and not asking for anything in return isn't something that you run into these days. If not that, then why are you not deserving of such a promotion? And trust me on this Silver; if you're getting praise like this from a fellow detective, then you know that you're more than good enough for this promotion."

"Thanks Knuckles," the senior detective thanked the other with a smile and nod of his head. "I'm pretty sure, however, that you're just as much deserving of a raise and promotion more so than me. I know that you've been working your butt off on this particular case you have no reason to be looking into. It's not that I'm going to rat you out for breaking the rules or anything for doing that since I know you have some personal connections with it," he added in a reassuring tone. "It's just that I've noticed the same file resting on your desk for a while now every time I have something for you to sign or check over."

"Funny, I thought it was because you were openly investigating that same case that you got this promotion," the red echidna stated more than asked as he took a couple of cookies and a forkful of chow mien while not looking at the other in the eye. It was clear he was purposefully avoiding his gaze as if out of embarrassment at being caught doing something he was not supposed to have been doing. "Then again, you were the one officially assigned to look it over whenever you pleased. As far as everybody else is concerned here, I'm not officially on the case, so they could care less about any progress I've made on this."

"Speaking of progress, I think I've figured out a couple of new things while being able to openly work on the case. I suspect that you three would be interested in knowing what it is being that you were all involved with the incident. I'll tell you all about it after the party when it's just the four of us. No need to drag the Vector and the others into something they theoretically don't know a lot about. And maybe we could also exchange information that only we both exclusively know about and could combine with each other in order to get even further into the case? We just might get the break that we've been searching for?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me," the red furred detective agreed with a nod of his head and a small grin. "Just let me hurry and finish up this plate of food before we go ahead and start exchanging information. I have a feeling that we'll probably have to write some stuff out in order to keep things together."

"Alright, then I'll go ahead and hang out with Vector and his group while I wait. I need to ask them about something that I had them help me out with a month ago anyway. Don't go taking too long, you hear? And I'll talk to you two about it later."

And before the other three friends had a chance to say or ask anything else on the subject, the silver furred senior detective moved towards the other end of the room where Prosecutor Vector, Charmy, and a purple scaled chameleon with his arms crossed were huddled together and talking amongst themselves with plates of food in their hands. Although Sonic and Tails never saw the other person before, they suspected that he was the third member of the prosecutor's Chaotix Detective Agency being that he seemed more than comfortable and slightly professional around them.

"That's one way to for him to keep us in the complete dark about the case," Sonic stated with a slight raise of his eyebrows and his head cocked to the side. "Just walk away without saying much else about the topic and hope that we don't go bugging him about it until he's ready to say. He knows that we're the most curious about what he figured out since we were directly involved with it. There's no reason for him to go hiding the details from us."

"I think it's more that he doesn't want to go rummaging through his drawers with all this food around here Sonic," Tails responded with an answer that was probably more logical than the one his older brother was coming up with in his head. "It wouldn't be good if all of the important paperwork and information he worked so hard to get ended up becoming dirty and hardly readable, you know?"

"As if I care about neatness when it comes to information regarding the incident we were in two years ago," the cobalt hedgehog countered in a nonchalant fashion. "It's not like he'll be ready to present it to the courts anytime soon. Either way, I guess we're not going to be getting anything out of the detective until this party's over. By the way, do you know who that purple chameleon guy is Knuckles?"

"Oh, he's another member of the Chaotix Detective Agency," Knuckles answered as he started to eat away at the food on his plate at a slightly rushed pace. He then added with his mouth full while being careful not to spit any of the pre-chewed food out, "His name's Espio. He has his own ninja dojo that he runs during the weekends and act as an instructor for those wanting to learn. He's good at what he does with all his ninja stuff that could easily be used for crime if used by the wrong people, but I've known him long enough to know he can be well trusted with his skills. I also think that he secretly prefers working with Vector and his small detective business than teaching what he can of his skills in his dojo. Why else do you think that he would only keep that place of his open for only two days in a week and work as a private detective for the other five?"

"I guess that would kind of make sense," the two tailed fox agreed with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Then again, you're the one who knows him better than me and Sonic combined, so who am I to go about saying anything about him? By the way, I don't remember where it was that I heard of this, but I got the impression that Vector's private side business doesn't really pay well. He's probably doing it just for kicks."

"Some people sure have some interesting hobbies they take up these days," the defense attorney stated as he went to the table to get an apple from the fruit basket. He then took hold of a fruit knife next to it and cut it into quarters so that it would be easier for him to eat. "Then again, I guess everybody has something about them that makes them seem weird to other people while making them into who they are."

"Oh, please don't try to pass yourself off as some kind of philosophical idiot by talking about these personal spiritual-like crap," the echidna said with a low growl of annoyance before he moved away from the group to the garbage can to dispose of his now empty plate. "Not only does it sound so damn fake; hearing it come out of your mouth just makes you into more of an idiot than you already are."

"Hey, I resent that Knucklehead! Don't forget that it was this same idiot who managed to get you acquitted of those murder charges two weeks ago. If you want me to go helping you again, don't go insulting me."

"And since when were you the type of guy who follows up on his threats? You have learned to follow up on your claims ever since you took up your job as a defense attorney, but that hasn't helped you in terms of your childish threats. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take care of a couple of things that I forgot to take care of before coming here. Hope to see you two tomorrow."

And before Sonic could even say anything in regards to that, the red furred detective had headed towards where Silver was still talking with Vector and his group of detectives. It was clear that he wanted to talk to him about the information on the case that they were both working on before the night was out.

"Is it just me or is everybody seemingly just spontaneously decided to leave us when it comes to things that we might want to ask them about that they don't want asked?" Sonic asked with a raised eyebrow as he finished off the rest of his apple. He then placed the fruit knife that he did not know he still had in his hands back onto the table. "Do they all think that we're not so deserving to know whatever it is that's floating around in their heads? Curiosity might have killed the cat, but I'm sure that it died satisfied with whatever it is that it wanted to know about before it kicked the can."

"I'm sure that both Knuckles and Silver are busy in their own right with whatever it is that they have to do," Tails responded with a raised eyebrow at the strange play on words with the old saying as he tried to sound reasonable. The last thing he needed now was to have his older brother become more annoyed than he already was. "And speaking of which, didn't you have some paperwork that Dr. Robotnik asked you to fill out before the day was done? I'm sure that's right now of more importance than wanting to figure out some details of a case that you can always get at some other point in time. Whatever happened with that plan?"

"He asked me to get them all done by tonight _before_ he was called out of town this afternoon for an emergency meeting in a completely different country tomorrow morning," the cobalt hedgehog stated with a rather smug smile on his face as if he found a way to beat the system. "And since he didn't say anything about faxing them over to him when he was done, I can let it go for a couple of days before I finish it."

"Do you always have to leave everything up to the last minute?" the two tailed fox asked rhetorically as he shook his head in disapproval before heading towards the snack table and taking a banana for himself. He then continued on as he began to peel back the bright yellow fruit, "I'm amazed that you managed to graduate high school leaving all of your work to the last minute and cramming for your tests with all-nighters. You're going to get yourself an ulcer with that kind of constant worry."

"Then how about you go ahead and head back to the office so that you can finish up the paperwork for me?" the defense attorney asked playfully despite having a very strong hint of seriousness to it. "It sounds like it's something that you really want to work on more than I do. If you do it, then you'll stop going down my throat for not working on it and I'll avoid a possible ulcer from the thought of it."

"Oh, that is the stupidest idea that I've ever heard coming from you for as long as I've known you, and that's saying something. No sane person with any sense of morals would want to help you falsify important papers meant for work and to be sent to your boss. And even if I were to swallow my morals and seriously consider going along with your crazy idea, I don't know a thing about what it is that you need to put down on those things. Why don't you just make it easy on yourself and start working on it the moment we get back to the office tomorrow morning? It'll save you a lot of trouble along with erasing any unneeded worrying about something so simple."

As Silver's promotion party continued on through the night, the brothers continued to go on about prolonged work and all that other good stuff that Sonic did not like or even wanted to talk about. It was not until about an hour later did they decided to stop and move on to trying to ask the senior detective about what it was that he wanted to discuss with them. By that time, however, the party was coming to a close and said detective was already starting to clean up with the help of Knuckles and Vector's crew. Not wanting to seem like a couple of freeloaders, the two brothers decided to pick up their end of the slack and began putting away the unused cups and plates and heading towards the kitchen and returning with containers meant to put away the party leftovers.

"I hope that I'm not intruding on anything important here," a voice suddenly stated right after a small set of knocks on the open door were heard. The occupants all turned towards the entrance to see a woman with auburn red hair dressed in a rather nice blue spring dress with white daisies on it that seemed to also double up as a sort of formal wear. She had an oriental face that seemed to defy her fluent accent in the English language when they first heard her speak. "I could come back at a later time if that's the case."

"Oh, hello Ms. Rose," Silver greeted the woman with a nod of acknowledgement accompanied with a small smile as he stepped away from where he was cleaning in order to properly welcome the woman into his office. "It's nice to see you here. You're not intruding on anything important here. We were just cleaning up the remnants of the promotion party I had earlier. Is there anything that I can help you with right now?"

"Oh, I was thinking of talking about something in private with you Detective Silver," the woman now known as Ms. Rose responded politely as she gave a small wave of her white gloved hand. Her red high heeled shoes shifted ever so slightly against the tiled floor as she kept a proper posture. "Is there a time tonight when you'll be available?"

"Hmm, I would suppose that I'll be able to talk privately with you in about half an hour," the detective responded after he spent a couple of seconds thinking about it. "I should be done cleaning up this office by then."

"Alright, then is it okay if I go ahead and help you and your friends with the cleaning while I wait? It could help pass the time and bring us closer to our private discussion. And besides, I feel I need to know as soon as possible what it is that you know about a case that I'm just curious about."

"Everything's alright in here. We're almost done with the process. I also promised a couple in here a bit of my time after this party, so I should be able to get to you in thirty minutes. And just as an added comment, I can't guarantee you anything that I'll be able to answer whatever questions you have for me. There are restrictions in place in order to prevent certain information from falling into the wrong hands, you know?"

"Oh, I understand completely detective. I'll go ahead and sit on the chairs outside until you're ready," the woman stated as she began to turn to exit the office. Before she did so, her eyes caught sight of the bowl of fruit and she turned back to face the interior of the office. "Oh, do you mind if I go ahead and take a piece of fruit before I wait outside? That apple looks simply divine from here."

"Feel free to help yourself to whatever it is that you'd like to eat in here. I don't want you to be waiting for me on an empty stomach after all. I'd be a poor host if I didn't try to let you have a comfortable wait."

"Thank you very much," Ms. Rose thanked Silver with a small bow of her head in appreciation as she made her way across the room towards the table that had some of the snacks that have yet to be packed up and put away. As she went to grab an apple, Sonic was still cleaning up around the area and took hold of the fruit knife in preparation to put it away. "Oh, do you mind if I used that for a second before you put it away? Eating fruit like this as it is tends to hurt my teeth after a couple of bites."

"Uh, go right on ahead miss," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a small shrug as he handed said knife to the woman who then began to quickly quarter the fruits before returning it to him a couple of seconds later. "Wow, you sure took care of that apple pretty quickly. It takes me at least thirty seconds to do what you just did."

"I was once in the military working as a part of the special forces team," the woman quickly explained as if it were nothing but old news before taking a small bite out of a piece of the fruit. "That particular branch taught us how to make quick and effective usage of knives such as this in case we were ever caught in a close combat situation with an enemy or hostile native. Anyway, I won't be in your way of cleaning anymore. I'll be outside waiting until you're free Detective Silver."

"I'll see you in about thirty minutes Ms. Rose," the senior detective answered just as the woman officially exited the room. Once the door was closed and she was out of earshot, he said with a slightly annoyed sigh as he continued on with where he left off with his end of the after-party cleanup, "Boy, that woman can really get on my nerves sometimes. She always wants to come in and ask me about stuff that's off limits to everybody every once in a while regardless whether or not I'm busy. It's like she just comes in for the heck of it so I can suffer from the headaches she gives me."

"Hey, she sometimes comes around to my desk outside your office wanting to ask me some things that she really doesn't have any business knowing about," Knuckles responded with the same exact sigh along with a shake of his head. "She only does that when you're out of the office and when I'm the next best person to talk to. I pity the people she tortures when both of us are out of this precinct. I think that she thinks she has some kind of power over us just because of her social standing with the public."

"Ouch, she sure sounds like a pretty hard woman to be around," the defense attorney stated with a slight twitch of his mouth that formed a momentary frown before it disappeared as he continued putting away the food in their containers brought in from the kitchen. "What do you mean though by her having power because of her social standing?"

"You really have to start watching the news more often Sonic," Tails said in a rather monotonous tone as he took some of the garbage bags and tied them up so that they would not spill out their contents. Knuckles simply looked at the teen as if he had just came out from under a rock while Silver pretended to have not been paying attention to their conversation. "Honestly, she's been talked about for over a month now ever since the senatorial race began. You can't even pass by people on the street without hearing her name at least once."

"You know I don't care much about watching the news and all that junk they usually spew out Tails. That and I could care less about listening to what other people are talking about when they're not even speaking to me in the first place. And when it comes to this boring politic stuff, I'm further away from it than the moon is from this planet. You'd have to catch me dead before I set even one foot into political land."

"Ever heard about trying to be less dense on the world around you Sonic?" the red furred echidna questioned as he walked by with a handful of trash before dumping it into a still untouched garbage bin. "Honestly, the world could be busy suffering from an apocalypse and you'd probably be the last person to know about it."

"I highly doubt that there would be any kind of good communication between people if it were to ever come down to that Knuckles. Everybody would be busy running around in a panic trying to find supplies to help them survive while taking out anybody who just so happens to get in their way."

"...Ms. Rose is a woman who's trying to become a senator for this district," Silver suddenly decided to explain as he did not want to have a possible and unnecessary argument to ensue over something as trivial as this. "Her full name is Kuro Rose. She's of Japanese descent but was born and raised here. She joined the military ten years ago when she was twenty and soon became a member and valuable asset to the Special Forces team two years later. Due to an enemy bullet that ended up puncturing her lung and bringing her to the brink of death, she has since retired from duty since the injury rendered her incapable of doing anything overly stressful or strenuous. Apparently, the stresses of being a senator seem low key to her compared to being on the battlefield."

"While I didn't ask for a history lesson, I guess it is kind of good to finally know a bit about this woman who suddenly decided to barge in here," Sonic stated in a half arrogant tone while the other half showed slight intrigue as he finished packing up the food and began to help Tails tie up the remaining garbage bags. "If she's running for senator though, then why would she want to stick her nose into you guys' cases? It's not like she's trying to run for the chief of police business or anything like that."

"One of the things she promised to do if and when she becomes senator was to reduce the crime rate here," Tails explained as he stepped back from his job and allowed his older brother to handle the rest. "If she's going to be doing that, however, then she needs to know what it is that the police and precinct detectives are working on and decide whether or not they're working on cases that require the utmost attention."

"If you ask me, that woman's just trying to find ways to score points with the public by trying to look good while making us look bad," Knuckles stated with a huff of his breath as he began to replace the garbage bins with new garbage bags.

"I don't like how she's bothering everybody in this precinct with her election agenda any more than you do Knuckles," the silver furred hedgehog agreed with the other in a calmer tone as he walked over to his now somewhat clean desk. "However, we're just going to have to grin and bear it until this whole political journey of hers is over.

"Anyway, I just happen to have an extra Newspaper Article talking a bit about Ms. Rose with me here," the senior detective continued on as he opened a desk drawer and quickly took out a cut out newspaper clipping. He then passed it into Sonic's hands while making sure he did not protest in the action. "You never know when you might need to know something about people who go into politics like her. That and it's basically a repeat of what I just said, so you can just look back at it if you forget about it."

"It sounds like you don't really have a lot of trust with her Silver," the cobalt hedgehog speculated with a raised eyebrow as he folded up the article without so much as giving it a glance before stuffing it into his gloved hand. "Any particular reason as to why that is besides her always wanting to come barging in unannounced into your office and demanding to know your business?"

"Politicians are all promises and no action. They make all these false promises during the election period just so they can sway the people into voting for them to go into office. Once there officially in, a good majority of their promises are never heard of again. And out of the ones that they do follow up on, they're usually not conducted or completed in a manner the people thought they were going to be completed. They're just nothing but a bunch of liars hiding behind their newly elected title."

"And yet you're actually cooperating with one of those very political runners right now," Vector, who he and his crew had been strangely quiet for the entirety of this conversation, stated as he was carrying the packed leftovers out of the office and presumably into the precinct kitchen. "If you ask me, it sounds a bit hypocritical of you."

"Funny, I never thought of you to be the kind of guy who would become a hypocrite Silver," the purple chameleon who Sonic remembered to be Espio added in a sort of deep voice as he also exited with food in his hands.

"Ha, they called you a hypocrite!" Charmy teased in a muffled sing-song voice as he fluttered out of the office with a container of cookies in his hand along with one jammed into his mouth like a gag. He was then heard mumbling to himself out in the hallway with the cookie clearly still in his mouth, "What's a hypocrite?"

"Oh, I can't believe I actually work with those crazy guys sometimes," Silver murmured under his breath as he let out a slightly agitated sigh as he looked at his office and saw that it was relatively clean and now void of any food before turning to face the cobalt hedgehog. "Anyway, why don't you guys get out of here if you're done helping me clean up here? I want to get over with having to talk to Ms. Rose as soon as possible. I promise I'll talk to you and Tails about that case once I'm done with her. And sorry Knuckles, but I don't think I'll be able to get to you about it tonight. How about we go ahead and start exchanging information first thing tomorrow morning when we start working? With this woman around, I'll probably never get to get out of here at all tonight."

"Hopefully, I won't be too busy when tomorrow comes around," Knuckles stated with a shrug of his shoulders as he started to make his way out of the office now that everything had been cleaned up as best as it could have been. "You just make sure you don't forget about our meeting then. I really hate it when people say that they're going to do something and then forget about it or just plain not want to do it."

"And since when have you known me to be the kind of person to do something like that to you?" the silver furred hedgehog questioned rhetorically as the red echidna left the office and began walking to wherever it was that he was planning on going to. "You just make sure that you're not the one forgetting if you do have some free time."

"I guess it's about time that we started to make our way back home too," Tails responded as he allowed a barely audible chuckle leave his lips and a smile of amusement. "Thanks for inviting us to your promotion party Silver."

"No need to thank me about that Tails," the senior detective said with a smile also on his face as he turned towards the two tailed fox. "You and Sonic have both known me for a while now, and I thought that this would be a good way for us to catch up after being out of touch for a while."

"Well, if you take into consideration that we've only talked to each other on rare occasions over the phone over the past couple of years as actual communication, then I'd say that this was a good time to physically catch up with each other," Sonic stated with a sort of weak sarcastic tone while still sounding generally genuine in response. He then added with a smile before making to leave the office with Tails following closely behind him, "With me now working as a full-time defense attorney, I hope that we can spend more time talking face to face than just over phone lines."

"I'm sure that we'll be able to work something out with our jobs pretty much serving the same purpose. Oh, could you please tell Ms. Rose that she can come in now when you pass by her? I can't really keep her waiting out there any longer than needed even though I would really like for that to happen."

"Good luck with her buddy," the cobalt hedgehog stated softly as he gave off a small sigh. Tails only shook his head at the thought that the detective was simply exaggerating how bad she really was. "Hope she doesn't end up giving you too much trouble."

And with that comment out of the way, both boys made their way out of the office and left the detective to clean up the rest of the small stuff that still needed to be cleaned that he could manage on his own. As they started to walk down the hallway towards the exit of the building, they could see Kuro sitting on a chair a few feet away looking at herself through her compact mirror and waiting patiently.

"Hello Ms. Rose," Tails greeted the woman politely with a smile on his face. Said woman looked up upon hearing her name called and gave a warm smile to the young fox. "Silver said that he's ready to see you now."

"Oh, thank you for relaying that to me," she thanked him with a small nod of her head as she pocketed her compact into a small barely noticeable pocket at the side of her dress. "I'll go and see him right now. I would suspect that you two are going home now?"

"Yeah, I need to get up early and finish up some paperwork that _somebody_ here wants me to get done," the defense attorney stated as he shot a small glare at his little brother. "He's not going to let me rest until I get it done."

"Well, it sounds like you better have a good night's sleep then in preparation for tomorrow," the woman said with a small chuckle as she got up from the chair and gave a small bow before moving towards the office. "I have to go now and discuss some important matters with Detective Silver. It was nice to have met you two."

And with that rather hastily said goodbye, Kuro had moved down the short distance of the hallway and entered Silver's new office without any hesitation whatsoever. The two boys heard the door close behind her and then continued on their way back home.

"Time for Silver to be bored out of his mind," Sonic stated with a sort of half smile on his face as he said it. "I really don't envy being in his shoes right now."

"How about you worry about the work that you'll have to finish tomorrow instead of what it is Silver has to do right now?" Tails asked rhetorically. "I would think that that would be more important than worrying about what others are doing."

"Killjoy," the cobalt hedgehog whined as he stuck a playful tongue out at his little brother. "You sure know how to put a damper on a night that's been going pretty well, you know that?"

The fox simply ignored both the gesture and the comment as he continued to walk beside his older brother. While still exchanging small words, they began to make their way back home for a good night's rest after having a controlled party all night.

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

**New Profiles:**

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. For some reason, he doesn't like to give people including his team members his last name. He's skilled in ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. However, Knuckles says that he probably prefers detective work being that he spends most of the week with Vector and Charmy.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She is trying to run for the senate seat of the district that she's representing. She was once a member of the military's Special Forces team. According to Knuckles and Silver, she constantly comes to the precinct to ask them about cases that they are working on or have already finished ever since she announced her candidacy.


	8. Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 2

Hello everybody! Boy, it's been a long month since I last updated this story. I'm sorry to all of you who have been waiting ever so patiently for this new chapter to come out. I've been having to deal with my new summer college classes along with having to juggle my summer job as well. It's been hell to really find any real down time to be working on this since homework takes up the rest of my free time. Thank god there's a sort of a small rest period last week since it was midterms and all that, but it's still hell to juggle it all around. Then again, that's just life catching up with me. (boo!)

Anyway, I hope that you all understand why there's the big wait, and I hope that this new chapter was well worth the wait. I'm just happy that I managed to finish the last chapter where I did because it gave me a basis to work on after that month long hiatus. I'm telling you, I nearly forgot what this case was going to turn out, and I ended up having to make a last minute change to this case's plot because I couldn't find a way to make my original plan work. I'll tell you all what it was at the end of this chapter.

So without further ado, I'll go ahead and set all you readers free to read my new chapter. And just as a reminder for those who have been waiting so long and forgot how I formatted the story, all the evidence that is stated in the story will be capitalized as if they were a proper name. The new ones along with the updated ones will be listed at the end while the current ones will be at the beginning. Profiles of the characters introduced in the case will also be done in the same fashion.

With that reminder out of the way, I hope that you'll all enjoy reading this new chapter as much as I did creating it. Please don't forget to leave a review when you're done reading!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Nobody would believe that Sonic was one if he didn't have it pinned proudly upon his chest. He proved that he was deserving of it despite his age after successfully completing his first career case.

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. Passed the bar exam with flying colors, allowing him to earn his Attorney's Badge a year earlier than normal. Has a likable and confident attitude about him, but sometimes gets nervous when in the courtroom. He's Tails' adoptive big brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He spends most of his time in the Robotnik Law Firm where Sonic works making sure the place stays relatively clean. He doesn't go to school because of the school board recognizing his brilliant mind surpassing even the most advanced high school work.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He also knows Prosecutor Vector and his gang in his little detective agency. He sometimes works with Silver on certain cases, although he tends to be on other cases most of the time because of his lower ranking status.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old detective who worked painstakingly hard to earn his promotion to senior detective after one official year on the force in conjunction with one year of internship. He knows Knuckles and sometimes works with him on cases. He has just received a new office in conjunction with his recent promotion as reward for conducting investigations to the best of his abilities without fail.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. For some reason, he doesn't like to give people including his team members his last name. He's skilled in ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. However, Knuckles says that he probably prefers detective work being that he spends most of the week with Vector and Charmy.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She is trying to run for the senate seat of the district that she's representing. She was once a member of the military's Special Forces team. According to Knuckles and Silver, she constantly comes to the precinct to ask them about cases that they are working on or have already finished ever since she announced her candidacy.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: Dangerous Twists and Turns Part 2<strong>

"…And that's what happened in the LK-9 incident investigation three years ago," Silver said with a small sigh as he just finished explaining a case he had worked on in the past to Kuro. He was sitting behind his desk and had a closed file in front of him. "I might've been just an intern student at the time, but I was more than qualified to work alongside detectives then. It still stays unsolved and shuffled away into the cold case files to this day."

"I suppose it would only stand to reason that there hasn't been any new evidence to help shed new light onto it," the woman running for senator replied with a sense of thoughtfulness in her voice as she sat in a chair on the other side with her legs crossed. "From what I remember of it, a well-known police detective and the then senator for this district were killed in that incident. Because of the lack of adequate evidence, they were unable to make any kind of arrests or further advancements on it. What made it worse was that three teenagers and a young boy happened to be in the same building where this double homicide took place."

"According to the statements they gave the detectives then, they were kidnapped by the very person or persons that killed the senator and detective," the silver furred hedgehog recalled as he got up with the folder in hand and moved to his file cabinet to file it away. "They all said the same thing, so we can safely conclude that they were used as a means of ransom in order to lure the two there. It's the only thing that makes sense especially when paired that one is the son of the then senator and another of the detective."

"And the other two just simply happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time at the time of the abduction," the woman finished as she crossed her arms and gave off a sigh as she thought about what she just heard. "It's so sad to hear that a murderer has to resort to kidnapping innocent children just so that they can pursue their personal agenda. By the way, do you happen to have the names of those children detective?"

"I hardly think that they could be considered children now Ms. Rose. It's been three years since that incident, and all of them save one has already graduated high school and achieved a steady job. Actually, even the youngest one has graduated high school thanks to his brilliant and excelled mind. Regardless of that, why do you want to know their names?"

"Oh, I just wanted to know them so I can have a little conversation with them about the incident. They might be able to shed some new light onto the case that detectives might have accidentally overlooked at the time."

"Ms. Rose, I'm sure that the last thing those four want is for you to go digging up horrible memories that they be better off forgetting about. They've all gone on to live rather successful lives despite having to live with these dreadful memories, and I would rather that it stays that way. And besides, giving out their names to anybody outside of the police force would be a breach of protocol. Unless there's an official order from my boss or the chief of police, I'm not allowed to give out that kind of information."

"But you've already given me all this information about the case. I don't see why you can't just say everything else without having to abide by rules."

"I'm sorry, but you had special circumstances being that you are a running candidate for this district's senatorial race. You were allowed some knowledge on some of the cases that we detectives are working on. However, that doesn't allow you to know everything about them like the names of those involved, for example."

"Oh, and just when I was about to get to the potential crux of the case," Kuro said with a small playful pout on her lips as she uncrossed her arms and got up from her chair. "Oh well, I suppose that you just can't blame a girl for trying. I thank you Detective Silver for indulging me on the workings of your cases."

"It's no problem Ms. Rose," Silver stated as he closed the open file drawer and turned back to face the running senator. "If you don't mind me asking, however, why is it that you seem so inclined to know whatever you can about the cases that police have been and are working on? I mean no disrespect, but I have a feeling that this has to do with something besides providing a front with the public in order to earn voting points."

"My, your mind is as sharp outside of a fresh crime scene as it is in one," the woman responded with a small chuckle leaving her lips. "I'm afraid, however, that that's something that you need not worry yourself over about. Although it might be hard for you to believe, I'm merely just trying to figure out how the cases of the past have been taken care of in comparison to those handled today. I need to make sure if there have been any improvements or downfalls in the process and system."

The silver furred hedgehog had his doubts that this answer was anywhere near what she was really doing. Unfortunately, all he could do was speculate at this point in that it seemed like she was not going to be budging anytime soon. And even if he were not out of gas in asking her about it, he would not have had a chance to once again speak up about it because a knock on the door disrupted the two's conversation.

"Hmm, I wonder who's at the door," the detective wondered out loud as he raised an eyebrow and stole a glance at the clock hanging against the wall. "Everybody who works here knows that my shift has been over since eleven. It's already a half an hour past that."

"Maybe they know that you're staying late because of your meeting with me," the woman suggested as she walked over to a small portable water machine and poured herself a cup. "I did tell the secretary outside that I would be meeting with you tonight, so she probably told whoever's out there that you're still here."

"Oh, this is just my luck here. I just hope that they aren't going to be giving me more work on top of the other stuff I'm already working on."

And with that said and a heavy sigh, Silver moved around his desk and towards the door with the intent of figuring out who it was and trying to make them leave as soon as possible so that he would be able to go home quicker.

_Meanwhile…_

"…And that's why I think that you need to start working on that report the moment we get back home Sonic," Tails said as they were riding in the back of a cab headed back to their apartment. He was still going on about the report that Dr. Robotnik had assigned him to complete by the time he had returned from his out of town trip. "Take advantage of the fact that he had to stay away for a few extra days and work on it before you leave it to the last minute and end up working on it at the last minute and stressing over it."

"Don't you think you worry a bit too much about me Tails?" Sonic asked with a small innocent shrug as he had an indifferent look on his face. "You're supposed to be acting like my bratty little brother, not my overprotective mother."

"Hey, if I don't worry about you here, then who in this world is going to?" the two tailed fox countered as he continued to make a valid argument. "Knuckles' too busy down at the precinct to be checking up on you on a regular basis, and we hardly ever have a chance to see Shadow ever since we first reconnected with him during that case two weeks ago. And Silver hardly knows us well enough beyond the case we were involved in two years ago, so he could practically care less about you in this case."

"Jeez, talk about trying to give your older brother a sense of tough brotherly love," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he allowed a small pout to appear on his face in both annoyance and defeat. "Then again, I guess I couldn't really live on my own here if you weren't here helping me along the way."

"And don't you go forgetting it. You'd be lost in the complications that you create in your own life if I weren't around to help you. By the way, did you make sure you didn't leave anything behind in Silver's office before we left?"

"I think its way past impossible for me to have left anything back in that posh office of his. I never took anything of mines out to show off or anything like that. If anything, I actually ended up gaining something from there, a Newspaper Article about Ms. Rose."

"And did you make sure that nothing fell out of your gloves while you were putting that piece of paper away? You can never be too sure about these things when it comes to something small like your Attorney's Badge, you know?"

"Fine, I'll go ahead and check my gloves if it'll make you shut up about this. I'm telling you, you're almost worrying about me like my mother sometimes. I can't live life with you following so closely to my tail, you know?"

For the next couple of moments, Sonic took off his gloves and checked inside them for the small things he usually kept inside them in hopes of appeasing Tails' worries. He took out the Newspaper Clipping from one of them, but his face then fell a bit as he began scavenging through the other and found nothing inside it.

"Uh oh," he whispered in hopes that Tails would not have catch it. Unfortunately for him, he did and immediately rolled his eyes at his older brother. "Don't tell me I really did manage to leave something back there."

"What did you forget Sonic?" the two tailed fox asked with a heavy sigh leaving his lips and resisting the urge to do a face palm. He had a feeling that this was going to be a long night in the way that things were going right now. "It'd better not be something important that we can't wait until tomorrow to get back from Silver's office."

"Uh, I think this thing is something that you might actually consider to be important," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he looked up at his little brother and gave off a sheepish smile. "I think I managed to lose my Attorney's Badge during that party. I don't know how it happened, but that's the only place I can think it can be."

"…Driver, could you please turn around and bring us back to the Precinct?" Tails asked with an annoyed sigh as he rapped at the plastic that separated the back portion of the car from the front after spending a few seconds in silence. "_Somebody_ here needs to go back because they forgot something important."

"You want me to drive you two back to where you came from after we're over halfway to your destination?" the cab driver asked with strong annoyance in his voice as he continued to drive down his instructed route. "Why in the world did you even ask me to drive you if you're just going to be back there?"

"Because we never intended on going back there tonight in the first place," he stated with an equal amount of annoyance as he shot his older brother a piercing glare. "Could you just please bring us back as soon as possible?"

"Fine," the man sighed out in frustration as he turned the car around at the next available green light and made his way back to the Precinct. "You better not be asking me to stay behind and wait for you to come out. I've got other customers who're more grateful for me taking time to transport them around than you two."

"If you're going to be like that, then you can just leave the moment we get out and pay you the fare. We'll just go ahead and take another cab home."

With a few more grumbling words, the cab driver continued to drive them back to where he had first picked them up in relative silence. Sonic chose to just sit quietly with his gloves in his hands as he tried to ignore Tails. He knew that he was really annoyed with him right now and that no amount of talking would be getting him out of that anytime soon.

After spending ten minutes backtracking through the streets they had previously driven through, they made it back to the Precinct much to the cab driver's aggravation. When the two exited the car, an equally aggravated fox paid the cab fare before the driver zoomed away in search of another potential customer.

"Uh, sorry for making us come all the way back here Tails," Sonic apologized as he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. His other one was still gripping onto his gloves with one of them holding the Newspaper Clipping inside it. "I hope you're not going to stay too angry with me about this."

"Just shut up and get to Silver's office before he leaves," the fox stated bluntly as they entered the building and past the female secretary. Being that she recognized them from earlier, she gave them only one glance before going back to what she was working on her computer. "I only hope that he's still in there talking with Ms. Rose. Otherwise, we'll have to go and wait until tomorrow when he gets back to get your Attorney's Badge."

"Look, I already said that I was sorry," the cobalt hedgehog repeated as he started to get annoyed with the cold shoulder attitude he was getting from his little brother. "Just stop giving me this anger treatment just because I forgot my badge and made us come back here. It's not like I'm not allowed to make mistakes like this in my entire lifetime. I'm only human, you know? And I mean that in a figurative sense."

"I just can't understand how you can manage to lose something both small and important like your badge," Tails stated as he shook his head while they headed down the hallway. "That's the one important thing that you should always have on you whenever you go out to occasions like the party. It'll give the detectives and officers a chance to figure out who you are if they happen to suspect you of being where you're not supposed to be."

"If that's the kind of logic you're going on, then what's to stop them from kicking you out of this place if they stop us?" the attorney countered as they turned a corner that led to a set of stairs that went upwards. "I would at least have some reason to be here being that I'm an attorney. You're nothing but a regular person from the streets to them."

"Not if I say that I'm with you as your assistant," the fox countered as they climbed the stairwell. "And even if they didn't allow it and tried to cite me for skipping school, I have a special card issued by the leaders of this district stating that I have no legal obligation to be in the school system due to my mental talents."

"And how is that supposed to help you stay with me here? All that does is keep you and me from getting into trouble with the law. That and it's in the middle of the night on a Friday soon to turn Saturday. School shouldn't have anything to do with this conversation."

"Okay, so you got me there. I got a bit carried away with the whole explanation thing. But still, me telling them that I'm your assistant should be more than enough for them to let me come in here with you."

"Yeah, that's considering if Knuckles or Silver are the ones we manage to run into here. Let's just hurry up and get to Silver's office and get my Attorney's Badge before we get pulled to the side by the other detectives around here."

After spending a few seconds ascending the stairs, the two finally made it to the fifth floor where Silver's new office was located. While it was true that they could have used the elevator to make the trek up easier on them, they remembered that it was out of order when they tried using it earlier in order to leave the building. In front of the elevators that were just a few yards away from where they were was a desk that belonged to this floor's secretary. However, it was currently empty with its computer monitor turned off and the surface cleared of any kind of important papers and other loose items.

"Huh, I was sure that there was a secretary here when we left before eleven," Sonic thought out loud as they passed by the desk. "I wonder where she is right now."

"Read the sign on the front of the desk Sonic," Tails stated as he pointed somewhat listlessly at a small placard nailed on the desk's front. "This entire floor is supposed to be closed to the general public by eleven. Some detectives probably stay behind sometimes for late night work, but the time for regular people to visit them are over. Of course, you and I are hardly considered to be regular people due to your legal status."

"Yeah, immunity through power," the cobalt hedgehog stated with a sort of smug smile as he stole a glance at the sign as they passed by it. "I never thought about it like that before. I guess that means we can stay up here for as long as we want, huh?"

"As much as that might sound fun for you right now, I want to hurry up and get this over with. I want to sleep in my own bed before the night is over."

"Well, it doesn't look like you'll have to wait long for that. We're here at his office now," the attorney said before he walked up to a door that had Silver's name stenciled into a placard and knocking lightly on it. "Hey Silver, are you in there?"

"I really hope that he's still in there," the two tailed fox said with a sigh as he allowed his eyes to wander around a bit. When he let his gaze rest to the floor, he noticed something protruding out from the small space between the door and floor. "Hey Sonic, there's something underneath the door."

"Really?" he asked as he stopped knocking and looked down at the object. Figuring that he could not figure out what it was, he then bent down and grabbed it with his free hand so as to have a better look. "Let me just pull it out and we'll see… What the?"

"Wh-what is it Sonic?" his little brother asked, startled by his older brother's sudden outburst of surprise and stepping back a bit.

"Th-this is the knife that I used to cut my apple during the party earlier," Sonic explained as he recognized the feel and simple design of it. However, the fact that it was the same knife he used in the party was not the thing that had caught his attention. What did was the fact that there was something crimson red staining the blade and a bit of the wooden handle where metal met wood. He then said as he showed the blade to Tails, "I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that this red stuff is from a ketchup stain."

"Uh oh," the fox groaned out as his nose suddenly caught the scent wafting off of the blade and instantly recognized it to be the stench of blood. "I don't think ketchup ever had a strong metallic scent to it."

"Silver, hurry up and open this door!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he dropped his gloves and began trying to turn the knob, fear starting to run through his body. To his surprise, the door opened with little ease and showed them a room bathed in darkness with the light by the window hardly enough to reveal what the office had in store for them. The strong smell of blood, however, made it more than clear what was inside. "Damn, what the hell happened in here? It smells so darn strong in here!"

"I'll go ahead and turn on the light," the orange furred animal offered as he tried to keep his voice calm while putting himself into the blood-scented room. After finding the light switch along the wall a couple seconds later, the bright lights installed on the ceiling illuminated the room, and the two immediately regret having done so. "Oh my god…!"

Inside the room was the clear reason as to why the room had such a strong scent of blood the moment they had opened the door. There were two bodies lying motionless on the floor, both of them with blood surrounding the area where they were. One of them was of Ms. Kuro Rose, the woman who was running for senator in the upcoming election. She had a wound that was directly over her chest that was still oozing out fresh blood and slowly sliding off of her dress. The two could only assume that she was dead at that point being that her eyes did not move upon seeing them standing just outside of the room.

The other body was that of Detective Silver, his silver fur now marred by the crimson coloring of blood despite there being no signs of any open wounds on his body. There were, however, a few large bruises here and there that seemed to indicate that he managed to get himself into a physical fight of sorts with the person who attacked them. Clearly, he had come up short in the battle and was now lying on the floor with his chest slowly rising and falling, a clear sign that he was still hanging onto life.

"Silver, Ms. Rose!" Sonic exclaimed as he immediately ran towards the woman's side in an attempt to find any signs of life from her, dropping the knife onto the floor in the process. Never in his life did he think that the first aid and CPR classes he took in high school would have come in handy. "Damn it; she's already gone! Tails, don't just stand there! Go and get somebody in here! I'm going to make sure that Silver's still hanging on."

"A-alright!" Tails responded rather dumbly as he forced his legs to move from the spot they were currently frozen on and ran out of the room.

"Come on Silver!" the cobalt hedgehog said under his breath as he made his way over to where the detective was at. Even in his current panic mode, he could still see the man's chest rising and falling slowly but surely. He then started to do the regular vitals check as he murmured, "I know that you're stronger than this. You die on me and I promise to never let you hear the end of it every time I come to visit your grave!"

Suddenly, a small and soft groan of pain was heard escaping from the detective's lips. His eyes then slowly opened, and he saw the teen hedgehog accessing the damage done to his body. "S-Sonic…"

"Don't worry Silver; you're going to be alright here!" the attorney responded, his voice filled with relief upon hearing the detective talking to him albeit weakly. "You just take it easy here. Tails is already out getting some help."

"Sonic…," Silver struggled to get out. "Ms. Rose…murdered…"

"Did that woman try to kill you? Is that why you're so beat up and she's the one dead in here? Did you ended up killing her by trying to stop her?"

"No… I…protect her," the detective said as he tried to explain what had happened in that room some time ago in choppy sentences. "She was… murdered by…by…" he started to say before he started to have a coughing fit.

"Silver?" Sonic said in a worried tone as he saw the other starting to fade out of consciousness again. "Stay with me here. Don't you dare fall asleep on me here! Who murdered Ms. Rose and attacked you? Tell me who did this!"

"…Desk… Underneath… … …"

Soon, Silver's eyes closed again, and he had officially lost consciousness once again.

"Silver, Silver!" the cobalt hedgehog shouted as he tried to rouse the detective back into alertness. His efforts were in vain, and he ended up just letting him rest until professional help arrived. "Damn it; he's out again! At least he's still alive and kicking. Just what did he mean by underneath the desk? Maybe there's something down there that can help me identify who it was that did this to him and Ms. Rose."

Seeing that there was nothing else that he could possibly do to help the detective, Sonic decided to do a little bit of investigating in order to see if he could pick up some clues that would lead him to the person that murdered Ms. Rose and severely beat up Silver. It did serve as both a way to get some answers in this disaster as well as help pass the time while Tails was still out there trying to look for help. The best place he felt would be a good start to look at first was where the detective had struggled to say, underneath his desk.

As he walked the few steps to his destination, he noticed the bloodied Knife that he had abandoned earlier along with his gloves a few inches away from them. Seeing as this was now considered a crime scene, he picked up his gloves and put them on, being careful to not let the Newspaper Clipping fall out from one of them. With that done, he left the weapon where it was and continued the last couple of steps to the desk.

Once he was there, he finally noticed the condition that the area was in. The hard wood floor around the desk was bloodied along with parts of the desk itself. The contents on the desk were strewn all over the floor with the table lamp knocked onto its side. A chair was overturned and was relatively clean with the exception of a few flecks of blood here and there. Lying on the ground in front of the desk was the body of Ms. Kuro Rose, her eyes open and set in a way that showed the fire of fight burning brightly in them even after death. Her legs were pointing towards the right while her head was resting along the top of her left arm and looking towards where Silver was at. Both her hands were bloody most likely from trying to stop the flow of bleeding after being mortally wounded. The cobalt hedgehog immediately figured that it was the Knife he had picked up earlier that had done the job being that there was nothing else nearby that was sharp and had blood on it.

Deciding that he had spent enough time looking at the body, the attorney continued on with his regular train of thought. Not wanting to mar the scene before the proper authorities had a chance to examine it, he walked around the desk from the left where the path was relatively clean of any kind of debris save for some sheets of paper. The right side had books from the bookshelf nailed to the wall scattered around and an overturned table, a clear sign that there was some kind of struggle during the time of the crime.

_It looks like they were having a real struggle here during the entire thing,_ he thought as he observed that the entire backside of the desk area seemed undisturbed. The file cabinets did not looked to have been touched at all, and the drawers were all closed tightly with the chair in its rightful spot in the nook underneath the desk. _Looks like whoever was in here wasn't interested in what Silver might've had in here. Guess this means that this was simply just a man wanting to commit murder. But why target these two?_

With these questions begging for answers continued their assault on his brain; he carefully made his way to the floor and began to check what was underneath Silver's desk. Besides the stuff from the surface of the desk that had fallen over during the scuffle, he noticed something bloody resting next to the leg of the chair. Curious, he carefully picked it up and immediately recognized what it was the moment he wrapped it around his fingers. It was his Attorney's Badge, but it was completely covered in blood that was partially dry from front and back as if someone tried to give it a new paint job.

_How the hell did my badge get all this blood on it?_ he wondered with wide eyes as he examined the piece of metal that was most likely now a piece of evidence in this scene. _Even the serial number on the back's been filled in with blood. I can't even read a thing on this now! Boy, am I going to have a hard time bleaching this sucker clean. But how in the world did it get managed to make its way here? There isn't any blood underneath this desk except from probably being kicked over here._

It was while he was in this position that he noticed something even more strange. From what he could interpret from the scene, he felt that it was safe to assume that Kuro was stabbed before the fist fight occurred because Silver was covered in some blood despite not having any kind of visible open wounds. It then made sense why his shoes were bloody being that they probably stepped in the puddle at some point, hence the bloody footsteps all along the wooden floor that he had failed to notice beforehand. However, his gaze just happened to rest upon the sole of Silver's Shoe, and he noticed a round blank spot underneath it where the blood for some reason never reached it.

_Why is there blood all over the bottom of his shoe yet none on that small spot?_ Sonic inquired as he raised an eyebrow at this discovery._ There must've been something on the floor that got stuck underneath there during his fight. I need to get a closer look at that if I'm going to try and figure out what he stepped on._

Just as he was about to move away from underneath to examine the detective's shoe, another thing caught his attention. Deciding to investigate further, he moved towards the left front end of the desk where something small was resting there. When he got his hand on it, he felt that it was smooth with jagged ends. Once he pulled it out from the darkness, he saw that it was a very small White Fragment of some sort.

_And what is this? It feels like it broke off of something. It's all jagged and rough at the edges. The question now is what did it break off of? It's barely noticeable because it's so small, but I don't think it came from a piece of the table lamp or something like that. Just what the hell is this thing?_

"What the hell is going on here?" a voice suddenly exclaimed in both shock and surprise from somewhere at the doorway. Completely taken off guard, Sonic immediately brought his head up and ended up smacking the back of it against the bottom of the desk. With a slight groan of pain, he rubbed the sore area before scooting back a bit and looking up to see who had so suddenly came onto the scene.

"What happened in here?" the person, who the cobalt hedgehog instantly recognized to be Espio from Silver's promotion party earlier, stated as his eyes gazed over the murder scene before him and took a step into the room. "Were you the one who did all this? I never knew that a defense attorney like you had the ability to stoop so low as to murder a police detective and a senatorial candidate."

"N-no, you got it all wrong!" the cobalt hedgehog stuttered with his hands in the air in a defensive gesture as he felt a chill take over his body. He automatically knew that he was in hot water now that he was caught loitering around here. "I didn't murder anybody here! I just came back here because I forgot something and saw these two already down. They were already like this when I got here. I had nothing to do with any of this!"

"Sorry it took so long Sonic!" Tails' voice was suddenly heard shouting from the hallway outside and was accompanied by the sound of running footsteps from both him and another person. Apparently, he finally managed to find somebody to help them. "Almost all the detectives were off, and I just ran into Knuckle when…!"

Just then, the sight of bright orange and white fur was seen flashing by behind the purple chameleon before he collided into the freelance detective's back and pushing him forward slightly. Thankfully, he was quick to recover and regained his balance before he fell onto the scene and messed it up.

"Wh-who is this?" the fox's frantic voice asked as he rubbed his nose a bit and looked up at who he ran into. It was clear that he was still in a panic since he did not recognize the person standing in front of him as the one from the promotion party earlier that night. "I didn't know you already got help Sonic."

"Espio!" the familiar sound of Knuckles' voice stated as he appeared through the doorway and was immediately assaulted with the scent of fresh blood that forced him to recoil a bit. "Good god, what in hell's name happened in here man? I was just about to come here when I ran into Tails frantically telling me to follow him. How did this office managed to smell like a butcher's butcher shack?"

"Ah, you're just in time here Knuckles," Espio responded calmly as he turned halfway around so he could look at the two newcomers while still keeping an eye on Sonic at the same time. "You came just in time in order to witness the arrest the person responsible for these two murders you see before you tonight."

"Wh-what are you talking about, you crazy horned chameleon?" Sonic exclaimed as he stood rooted to the spot, not wanting to make the situation any worse than it was right now. "I never murdered anybody here; and Silver is still very much alive here! You can check him out for yourself if you want to."

"I don't think it really matters much on the details on who is dead and who's not at this point," the chameleon responded calmly as he shook his head in a sense of disagreement combined with some other kind of unreadable emotion. "The only thing I know for sure here is that I caught this attorney loitering around in an office that just so happens to have two bodies in it. He acted as though nothing was wrong in here and was scavenging under the desk when I first came in here after smelling all this blood. As such, I'm making a citizen's arrest upon him based on the circumstances that I witnessed."

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Knife: A fruit knife that was found underneath the door of Silver's office. Dried blood is seen covering the entirety of the blade with flecks also on the wooden handle. Only Sonic's fingerprints are known to be on it at this point since he touched it earlier without gloved hands.

Silver's Shoe: A shoe that is covered in blood. Oddly enough, there is a small round spot underneath the sole that is unmarred by the crimson liquid. It is unclear on what caused this unnatural occurrence or why this is so.

White Fragment: A small white piece found underneath Silver's desk. It is smooth with rough and jagged edges, almost as if it were broken off of some kind of clay figure. It is unclear as to where it originally came from.

**Updated Evidence:**

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the promotion party earlier that evening. It was found under Silver's desk completely covered in blood on both the front and back despite there being no significant traces of blood around that area. It is believed to have been kicked under there during the scuffle after being bloodied.

**Updated Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He's currently under suspicion for the murder of the running senator and the assault of the detective.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He ran off to find help while the attorney stayed behind to see what he could do for the two victims.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He ran into the fox while on his way to visit Silver and followed him back to his office.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old senior detective who worked hard for his current position. He was found in his office severely beaten up with bruises all over him. It is currently unclear as to who it was that caused his extensive injuries.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She was a running candidate for her district's senatorial race and a former Special Forces member in the army. She was found stabbed to death in Silver's office. It is unclear as to who it was that murdered her.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it. He is now using his powers as a freelance detective to accuse Sonic of murdering Kuro Rose and assaulting Silver.

* * *

><p>Wow, that was a lot of updated stuff to put on here. And I hope you enjoyed this new twist I put in this chapter that was in stark contrast to the happy setting from the last chapter.<p>

And now for the changes I made from my original thought to this chapter. I had originally thought of keeping Kuro Rose alive and have her be the attempted murderer of Silver while the blame was shifted onto Sonic. However, I found the entire process to be completely complicated and overall confusing to really put onto paper without confusing both me and you guys. So in the end, this is what happened, her dead and the detective severely beaten with nobody knowing who did the deed. And Sonic is still being accused for it.

There was also another change that I decided to make to this case, but that will be introduced in the next chapter. And until then everybody, I hope that you all enjoyed this new chapter and felt that it was worth the wait. Don't forget to leave a review before you move onto another story.

And just as a little note to those who read my other stories like my Jak and Daxter one and the new Yu Gi Oh one. I will also be working on those. They have not been abandoned, although it is hard to work on them because of school. Just wait patiently for them.

Until the next update everybody!


	9. Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 3

Hello everybody! No, this isn't one of those times where you think you're dreaming just because it's something that you haven't seen in a long time. This is me posting a new update just a couple of days after my last chapter has debuted. I just happened to have caught a lucky break today in that both of my afternoon classes were for some reason cancelled. That, in turn, gave me more than enough time to come up with this new chapter and post it for you all to read.

I'm telling you, this chapter was hard for me to construct. As I said in the past chapter, I had to completely reconstruct who it was that was going to die and who would be the real criminal. As such, everything that you see in this particular chapter is pure randomness that I somehow managed to make work for the sake of the mystery. Sorry if parts of it might sound a bit weak, but it was the best that I could do, especially since I accidentally created only a small amount of evidence to work with this time around.

Anyway, I hope that you all still find this chapter to be very enjoyable. And as I said before, I'll announce the other change that I made for this case. I was originally thinking of having this whole thing resolved in court like the other two cases. However, I figured that it was just going to be too complicated now that Sonic and Tails had a first hand look at the crime scene before an accused even had a chance to make themselves known to them. So, this case is going to be handled in a fashion much like the Miles Edgeworth game; it's all going to be resolved right at the scene. For those who remember, I did a scene akin to that sometime in the second case on the third part.

With that explanation, I hope that you all enjoy reading this chapter and the mysteries that it will impart onto your brains. Just think of it as my version of making brain exercises. Don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading!

* * *

><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

Knife: A fruit knife that was found underneath the door of Silver's office. Dried blood is seen covering the entirety of the blade with flecks also on the wooden handle. Only Sonic's fingerprints are known to be on it at this point since he touched it earlier without gloved hands.

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the promotion party earlier that evening. It was found under Silver's desk completely covered in blood on both the front and back despite there being no significant traces of blood around that area. It is believed to have been kicked under there during the scuffle after being bloodied.

Silver's Shoe: A shoe that is covered in blood. Oddly enough, there is a small round spot underneath the sole that is unmarred by the crimson liquid. It is unclear on what caused this unnatural occurrence or why this is so.

White Fragment: A small white piece found underneath Silver's desk. It is smooth with rough and jagged edges, almost as if it were broken off of some kind of clay figure. It is unclear as to where it originally came from.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He's currently under suspicion for the murder of the running senator and the assault of the detective.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He ran off to find help while the attorney stayed behind to see what he could do for the two victims.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He ran into the fox while on his way to visit Silver and followed him back to his office.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old senior detective who worked hard for his current position. He was found in his office severely beaten up with bruises all over him. It is currently unclear as to who it was that caused his extensive injuries.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She was a running candidate for her district's senatorial race and a former Special Forces member in the army. She was found stabbed to death in Silver's office. It is unclear as to who it was that murdered her.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it. He is now using his powers as a freelance detective to accuse Sonic of murdering Kuro Rose and assaulting Silver.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt. 3<strong>

"…Alright, I've called the police, and they're on their way right now," Knuckles stated as he took the phone away from his ear and hung it up. He had managed to find the black contraption somewhere under the mountain of books earlier and succeeded in retrieving it without marring the crime scene. "It sucks that this Precinct building and the Police Department happen to be in separate parts of town. To be assigned in the lower division is like saying you don't belong in the actual police building where all the others work."

"How long will it take for them to get here in order to make the official arrest?" Espio asked as he kept his eye on Sonic the entire time while staying near the only exit to the office in case said person decided to make a run for it.

"Unfortunately, they said that they'll be here in about twenty minutes," the detective answered as he moved away from the desk and towards the corner that the cobalt hedgehog was currently standing in. Tails was leaning against the wall next to him with a worried expression on his face while his eyes unconsciously scanned the scene in front of him. "One of the senatorial candidates decided to host a late-night promotional party. Because of that, the streets are packed with cars and people and are causing a big traffic jam.

"Of course, I requested that they only sent one squad car of officers so as to not set off a panic here in the Precinct," he continued on with a sigh as he made his way to the door. "The last thing we need here is for the entire building to be in an uproar about there being a murder on a candidate for senator. Imagine the stink this would raise. It took a little string pulling, but I managed to get them to agree to keep it all under wraps until eight tomorrow morning."

"And why did you have them keep quiet about it until then?" Tails asked with a raised eyebrow at the odd action.

"Because Ms. Rose's secretary always checks up with her on her daily schedule at that time. I know because she told me once during her meeting with me. I also asked to keep it quiet until then so that we can hopefully get this whole thing cleared up before then."

"And what is there to be cleared up Knuckles?" the purple chameleon asked with a sort of light chuckle escaping from the back of his throat. "I've already told you that I saw Sonic here in this office with the body of a murdered woman and an assaulted detective in it. Nobody would act that calm with that kind of catastrophe around them unless they were the person responsible for it."

"That's a very funny line of logic that you managed to come up with Espio," Sonic said with an annoyed scoff of his breath as he crossed his arms in a defiant manner. "Did it ever occur to you that I was simply just investigating this place in hopes that I could find some answers as to who it was that did all this? If I were the one responsible for all this, which I'm not, then I wouldn't have been staying around waiting to be caught by somebody who just happened to be passing by."

"Sonic's right here; no criminal would be that stupid to stay around the very place where they had just committed murder," the two tailed fox agreed with his older brother. "And besides, he's not anywhere near capable of committing murder on anybody, much less on a woman that he hardly knew anything about."

"And that's also another reason why I asked for the police to keep a low profile about this until tomorrow morning," Knuckles added as he made it to the doorway and turned around to face the current occupants in the room. "Since they're are not here yet, this is still simply a citizen's arrest that you've made Espio. As such, we still have some time to clear up Sonic's name before you can go ahead and hand him over to the police with simply your eyewitness account on what you initially saw."

"And you're saying that there's actually something that can disprove what my eyes have saw? You've got to be kidding me here."

"He's not kidding Espio," Tails spoke up with a huff of his breath as he got off the wall and stood as tall as he could. "And I'm going to prove to you that Sonic couldn't have possibly have had anything to do with this murder."

"Humph, such strong talk from someone as young as you who doesn't know spit about the law. Alright, I'll go ahead and entertain you for a bit. Knuckles, do you mind staying behind for a bit and bearing witness to this little exchange?"

"I think I'm the only one around right now with the ability to do so," the echidna responded as he leaned against the doorway. I'm the only official detective around here who can listen to you guys talk about this crime and prove it to be admissible testimony should the need ever arise."

"Alright, then how about I start off by telling all of you why I believe that Sonic is the murderer here?"

_**Argument: Reason for Arrest  
><strong>_

Sonic here is the only one who I believe had the chance to commit both the murder and assault that took place in here. I say that because he was the only one in the room when I happened to pass by at about a quarter before midnight. That and I caught him loitering around behind the desk area. If that doesn't show any signs that he's the murderer, then I don't know what does.

_**End Argument**_

"That's it?" Tails asked with raised eyebrows at an argument that could not even stand up to a proper cross-examination in court. "That's the worst kind of reasoning I've ever heard of in my life."

"Believe what you will, but I believe that you only asked for my account on what I thought in the moments when I first discovered this scene," Espio countered in a cool tone. "After all, we're talking about my basis for a citizen's arrest here, and that directly correlates to that little detail."

"Espio's right about that Tails," Knuckles agreed with the chameleon with a shrug of his shoulders. "You're just going to have to work with that for now. And don't forget that you're right now on a time limit here."

"Oh, what a way to put more pressure onto him Knuckles," Sonic argued with a sort of whining tone in his voice.

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"Anyway, you say that Sonic was the only one who could've committed the murder and assault," Tails repeated as he scrunched up his eyebrows in thought and tried to find something to say in between short statements. "Do you mind explaining to me a bit more on why you went with that line of thought?"

"I already told you; he was the only one in the room at the time I passed by," Espio answered in annoyance at having to repeat myself. "I don't really think you could ask for a better reason than that considering the circumstances here."

"Yes, I remember you saying that," the two tailed fox admitted with a nod of his head. "However, even you have to admit that that alone doesn't really constitute a good basis for an arrest. What other reasons do you have for saying that he was the one to have committed this murder?"

"Well, I know that Silver was busy working overtime tonight since he was having a meeting with Ms. Rose," the chameleon began to explain. "This is the fifth floor where senior detectives work, and I just happened to be at the floor underneath us. You see, the floor below us happens to be where the prosecutors' offices are located. Vector's just so happens to be the one located right next to the stairwell. With the elevators out of order today, one would have to access the stairs if they wanted to move from floor to floor."

"I assume you're saying this because the prosecutor's office happens to have a good view of the stairwell," the fox stated more than asked.

"That's exactly right. Also, the door to the fourth floor stairwell is jammed and refuses to close without swinging back open. Knuckles here can attest to that, I'm sure."

"He's right about that door," Knuckles stated as he let out a little growl. "It's practically open all day long, and you could hear anybody climbing up or down those stairs provided that it's relatively quiet. Being that eleven is the time where everybody's already off when this happened, it was generally calm enough for him to have heard anybody in those stairs then."

"And it's with that backing that I claim to have saw nobody except you two climb up those stairs to this office," Espio finished off with a triumphant smile on his face. "In other words, only Sonic could've been the one to have committed this murder."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"I'm afraid that I'll have to disagree with you on that one Espio," Tails argued once the other had made that comment. "You say that Sonic was the only one able to commit this murder simply because you only heard us two climbing up those stairs."

"It's the only logic that stands to reason here," Espio responded with a shake of his head. "I guess your mind simply cannot comprehend it being that you're so young."

"I'm sorry, but your line of logic is way too flawed on so many different levels," the fox stated with a small smile on his face appearing. "There's still another person here that's capable of having murdered Ms. Rose here."

"And just who is it that you're suggesting had a chance to do so?" the chameleon asked, clearly not believing that the fox had any idea what he was saying.

"I'm talking about me of course," he responded without any hesitation, much to Sonic and Knuckles' surprise. "I don't mean to be inflicting self-incrimination; I'm merely pointing out the possibility of someone else having committed this crime."

"Ha, and you're saying that my line of logic is badly flawed!" the freelance detective exclaimed with a laugh that reflected humor at the explanation. "You're actually putting your own self on the line for the sake of protecting your friend. While I do commend the fact that you have the courage to do so, I'm afraid that you're bringing in some false information here. You see, you're much too small and inexperienced to possibly cause such bodily damage to Silver. Because of that, there's no way you could've murdered Ms. Rose because he would've stopped you before you had the chance to do so. Therefore, that only leaves Sonic as the main suspect. And while I do admit that you ran to find help, you could've only done so because of the scuffle that ensued right before you."

"Alright, so you managed to prove your point on why you initially thought that Sonic was the perpetrator here," Knuckles concluded as he crossed his arms and thought about what he had just heard during the exchange. "However, you've been at this scene for quite a while now. As Tails had said earlier, the reason that you've presented to us for arresting him sounded too weak to really be a reliable source of testimony. As such, I'm sure that there must've been something you saw here that compelled you to keep true to your original thoughts. Do you mind sharing to us what they were?"

"He probably saw nothing being that he's acting so one-sighted about all this," Sonic spat out as he hated being in this situation where he was basically helpless and had to rely on his little brother to get him out of it.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you," Espio stated cockily with a waggle of his finger. "If it's my account on what I've seen here so far that you want in regards to my decision on arresting him, then I'll indulge you all. All you have to do is ask and I will gladly comply."

"Then hurry up and give us the second part of your explanation," Tails requested with a hint of impatience in his voice. "You're not doing a very good job convincing me that you're right with your shaky reasoning right now."

"Then allow me to remake the foundation surrounding my reasoning and strengthen it to become more stable and believable," the chameleon answered as he prepared to supply the second part of his reason for making his citizen's arrest. "Not even you should be able to come up with a reasonable counterargument after this."

_We'll just see about that now Espio,_ the orange furred fox thought to himself as he kept a straight face and crossed his arms in defiance. _From what I've learned in seeing Sonic in action, I know that even the most hardened of statements can be broken down and simplified. Yours should be no exception to that rule._

_**Argument: Conditions of the Murder  
><strong>_

I've been here at this scene for about fifteen minutes now, and that has been more than enough time for me to view the things around here. Ms. Rose was clearly murdered due to something piercing her right through her chest and most likely into her heart. That's the only explanation to the vast amount of blood pooled around her body. And the only thing resembling something sharp around here with blood all over it is the Knife. Because of this, I conclude that Sonic stabbed her to death while fending off or managing to render Silver unconscious.

_**End Argument**_

"Anybody could see that she was stabbed with the Knife here," Sonic stated with a hint of sarcasm in his words. "You'd have to be completely blind or insanely ignorant to not see the damn thing lying on the ground here and the stab wound on her chest! That's a completely stupid reason to go about with arresting me."

"And yet I'm not talking about whether or not the things I just described would be easily seen by your everyday average person," Espio countered as he shot a glaring look at the cobalt hedgehog that quickly shut him up. "I'm merely stating the things that I feel help support my initial reasoning in keeping you detained here until the police arrive. I'm only trying to put proven relevance to my actions."

"And I'm here to pick away at your reasons and prove them to be false grounds on accusing Sonic," Tails boldly proclaimed as he ran through the previous statements in his head in an attempt to find anything amiss. "So how about we go ahead and get this over with while we still have time?"

"I suggest that you best hurry up with this Tails," Knuckles warned as he looked at the clock on the wall. "The police should be here in about a few more minutes provided that they managed to maneuver through that big crowd in the streets. Once they get here, I'll be forced to hand Sonic over to the police if you can't cast reasonable doubt on Espio's reasons for making a citizen's arrest."

"And stop putting more pressure on me and threatening me with the inevitable arrival of the police Knuckles," the two tailed fox answered back with a small groan escaping his lips from the pressure that was being placed on his shoulders. "You're not really helping to make this any easier, you know that?"

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"Has it really been fifteen minutes since this whole thing started?" Tails asked, clearly not believing that time had flown by so quickly without him noticing. Then again, he did not look at the clock when he first came in here, so he did not have any idea how much time had really passed. "It's felt a lot longer than that. How can you be so sure that it's only been that long since you first came here?"

"Well, if you take into account that Knuckles got here a couple of minutes after me and then took a little while to call the police under the thought of examining the scene, then fifteen minutes seems more than right," Espio explained as he stole a quick glance at the clock in order to solidify his claim. "Unlike you, I had a clear enough mind to go ahead and check the clock for the sake of documentation. I'm more than certain that I've been here for about fifteen minutes since a quarter before midnight, and it's right now a couple past."

"Okay, so we managed to determine how long Espio's been here," Sonic stated with a sigh of annoyance as his shoulders slumped down a bit. "How's that going to help me get out of this mess Tails?"

"I-I was just…testing him to see if he was being truthful and competent," the orange furred fox answered with a sort of sheepish smile and shy laugh that showed he had clearly asked the wrong question. He then continued on as he rubbed at the back of his neck, "Anyway, let's go ahead and move onto the next question. Why do you say that the Knife was the thing that ended up killing Ms. Rose?"

"Like I said earlier, that's the only thing in this room that even resembles anything like a plausible murder weapon," the purple chameleon answered as he shifted his gaze to the object still lying on the floor. "That and the entire thing is basically covered in blood. While there hasn't been a formal investigation here, I think that it's safe to conclude that it could only belong to the senatorial candidate. After all, there hasn't been any sign of open wounds on Silver's body, and she's the only one covered in a reasonable amount of blood that would be suspected from a murder victim."

"And how is the fact that the Knife is covered in blood would be able to help you confirm that Sonic was the one who committed murder and assault?" Knuckles asked in an attempt to get some more clarification on the situation. "I don't think that you've put much elaboration on that part yet."

"Well, if you take just one look at him, you should be able to figure out the answer for yourself. He hasn't had the chance to change his appearance ever since I caught him in the act, so it should be easy to explain."

_**Additional Statement**_

What kind of person in their right mind would come up here with a pair of gloves on their hands? It's almost as if he came here all prepared for anything that might've occurred, including murder.

_**End Additional Statement**_

"I only have my gloves on here because I was busy _investigating_ this office for any clues before you decided to suddenly appear out from nowhere!" the cobalt hedgehog countered as he crossed his arms in an attempt to look both offensive and defensive with his position. "That's the only reason why I have them on."

"That's what you say, but only a proper investigation can fully determine whether or not what you say is the truth," the freelance detective fired back. "For the sake of right now though, this is why I feel that you're the one responsible for this. While you were fending off against Silver's attacks, you took the Knife off from the desk and stabbed Ms. Rose with it. And you were prepared by having your gloves on you the entire time for the sake of not leaving any of your fingerprints behind."

"So you're saying that your recollection of what you saw when you first arrived in conjunction with both his appearance and the way the scene is currently that you arrested Sonic," the echidna concluded as he listened carefully to Espio's explanation. "I don't like to admit this, but that does sound like a pretty reasonable basis for a citizen's arrest when you put the two together."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"It may be reasonable, but I don't think that it's the right assumption," Tails responded as he finally spotted a clear opening in Espio's argument and decided to go with it. "Let me just repeat what you said here. You said that Sonic was prepared for murder simply because he had his gloves on for the entire time you've been here. As such, you let that be the basis on saying he had it on during the entire time he was in here."

"That is what I was alluding to when I made that statement," Espio admitted with a nod of his head. "I don't know what you're talking about here, but I don't see any flaws in what I told you."

"I suppose that's only natural since I know something about the time before you arrived here that you don't," the two tailed fox admitted as he remembered the moments when he and Sonic first discovered the scene in the office. "How about I give you my account on what happened when Sonic and I first got here?"

"It sounds like a fair suggestion," Knuckles said with a nod of his head. "After all, you were with him when you discovered this mess. So what is it that you have to say about it?"

"Well, I'm afraid that I can't really say much since my mind was in too much shock at what I was seeing. However," he quickly added when he saw the chameleon give off a scoff of disbelief, "I do remember the things I saw before we opened the door."

"And what do you say you saw before you two decided to open the door?" the chameleon asked with a shake of his head in disbelief as he decided to go along with the fox's idea. "I can't wait to hear what you have to say about that."

"Well, I remember that the Knife that's being considered the murder weapon in this case was found underneath the doorway when the office door was closed," he responded as he thought back to the moments just before their unfortunate discovery. "Sonic then went ahead and picked it up without any second thoughts when I brought it to his attention. And before any of you say anything, Sonic wasn't wearing any gloves at the time, so his fingerprints should be on the handle as clear as day!"

"Oh yeah, I'd completely forgotten about that!" Sonic exclaimed as he remembered performing the action his little brother had brought up. "I took my gloves off earlier while we were riding in a cab because I was searching for something that I lost. I didn't put them back on until after we got here and saw all this."

"H-his fingerprints are on the weapon? I don't believe it for a minute!" the freelance detective exclaimed in surprise. "You're just trying to make something up so that you can get your friend here off the hook. While commendable, it's an act that's punishable by the law for providing false testimony."

"You can say anything you want about this, but I know for a fact he touched that thing with his bare hands! And if you still don't believe me, then we'll just go ahead and wait until the police arrive and conduct their official investigation.

"And until that time comes," Tails continued on as he saw Espio's previously confident attitude falter a bit, "let me continue on with my counterargument. If you're going to keep on saying that Sonic was the one who committed the murder and wore gloves to cover up his tracks, why then would there be fingerprints on the very thing he used as a weapon? It just doesn't any sense no matter how you look at it."

"And so what if his fingerprints are on that Knife?" the chameleon argued back with a slight growl to his words as he tried to keep his line of reasoning alive and intact. "He probably just suffered from a small moment of criminal stupidity. That still doesn't change the fact that he's most likely the person who murdered Ms. Rose."

"I'm sorry, but that sounds like something straight out of a fairy tale. He couldn't have possibly been the one who murdered her."

"And why do you say that Tails?" Knuckles asked, his face already showing that he knew the answer but wanting the other to answer to see if he was just trying to bluff his way out of this. "What proof do you have that says he isn't capable of such a feat?"

"Sonic, do you think you can help me out here and pull out that Newspaper Clipping you have in your glove?" the fox requested as he shifted his gaze to his older brother with a slight twinkle in his eyes. "I think that should be more than enough to show that Espio's got the wrong guy and that you're innocent."

"If you think you need it, then go ahead and take it," the cobalt hedgehog complied as he dug into his glove and pulled out the piece of folded paper. "It was starting to give my wrist a bad itch anyway." The fox then walked towards him and took it before unfolding it and paraphrasing what was written on it.

"This Newspaper Clipping explains a bit about Ms. Rose's past. Namely, it talks about her time in the military as a member of the army's Special Forces team. She was known within there as one of the best knife wielders and fighters in the entire force. It even goes so far to say that she was the best of the best in that accord."

"I-it really says that?" Espio asked as he snatched the paper out of his hands and began skimming through it. "I hope that you're not trying to pull my leg here and waste my time with simple nonsense."

"I've read that particular article this afternoon Espio," the echidna responded as he was clearly backing the young fox's claim. "I can spare you some reading time and tell you that what he just said is on that Newspaper Clipping."

"I'm sure you already know what I'm going to say next," the young fox responded with a triumphant smile on his face as he saw the chameleon's cocky attitude crumble before him. "Because Ms. Rose is such an expert in knife combat, it would be close to impossible for Sonic to have killed her with the Knife short of drugging her to sleep first. And even that would be an impossible feat with Silver in the room. Since him murdering the woman is impossible, it should also stand true that him assaulting the detective is just as equally improbable!"

"W-well, perhaps there were two people in this room at the time all this took place!" he continued to argue, clearly not wanting to admit that he was wrong anytime soon. "That should help explain your little string of impossibilities."

"Funny, that directly contradicts with what you told us earlier," Sonic countered as he clearly remembered the original argument the other made that landed him where he was at right now. "You said that you knew without a doubt that it could've only been me that was a main suspect here. You even managed to prove that Tails couldn't possibly have done it as a way to back up your claim! Changing your mind on this key detail means that you're changing your entire outlook and ultimately your stance on this scene!"

"And that means you can't possibly keep him under citizen's arrest now that your original line of logic has just been shadowed by my argument!" Tails stated happily as he saw the freelance detective recoil a bit in shock. "It no longer follows with your reasoning that he's the only main suspect."

"I'm sorry Espio, but they're both right on this," the detective responded with a small hint of relief in his words. "I've been listening carefully to your exchange the entire time, and I feel more than comfortable in saying that your decision to hold Sonic in this room is completely unfounded. And based on what has been proven, I cannot allow you to hand him over to the police at this time once they arrive."

"B-but that can't be right! If he wasn't the one who killed the senatorial candidate and assaulted the senior detective, then who's the real perpetrator?"

"That's what we're going to find out once the police arrive and conduct their formal investigation of this place," the cobalt hedgehog said as he walked away from the corner he was literally placed in and towards his friends. "And that's when we're going to be getting some clear answers as to what happened here."

"Ha, to be proven wrong and made a fool of at the same time…!" Espio growled out in frustration as balled one of his hands into a fist and struck his open palm with a very audible smack. It was very clear that he did not like to be proven wrong, especially since he placed so much effort into his argument in order to make it work with the crime scene.

For the next couple of moments, everybody was relatively quiet with nothing to say or add to the exchange that had since ended. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were standing next to each other in a sort of protective and victorious stance; the chameleon still stood where he was all alone and stewing in his own frustrations. Even his facial expression reflected the shock he had at making the wrong assumption. It was clear that he took his job as a detective for the Chaotix Agency real seriously and was not going to take being wrong very lightly.

"…Fine, so you managed to prove that my assumptions weren't as well-based as I originally thought they were," the chameleon finally admitted with a huff of his breath and his arms crossed in a defiant manner. "However, there still hasn't been any concrete proof saying that Sonic had no direct connections with the crime. As such, I still consider him to be a person of interest in this case."

"At least it's better than having you go down my throat and accusing me as a murderer," the attorney admitted with a shrug of his shoulders as he saw the freelance detective make his way through them and out the door. "It's nice to know that we've finally found some common ground on this to agree on."

"Regardless, I'll be staying here in the Precinct in case the police decide that they want to have my statement about this," he said as he ignored the other's remark and stopped for a brief moment with his back still towards them. "If they ask for me, tell them that I'll be hanging out in the cafeteria on the first floor taking a coffee break."

And without saying anything else, he quickly walked down the hallway towards the stairs without once looking back. The trio simply stood by the doorway outside in the hallway and stared at his quickly retreating figure until he descended down the stairs.

"Boy, that was some good arguments you presented against him Tails," Knuckles stated with pride clearly reflecting off of his words at what he had just saw. "You don't necessarily have the poise that Sonic has when he's in the courtroom, but you might actually make a good detective one of these days with those interrogation skills of yours."

"Eh heh, thanks Knuckles," Tails thanked the echidna, his cheeks gaining a bit of red in them from embarrassment at the compliment. "I just did what I had to do to try and get him out of this trouble. That and I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something kind of off with Espio's reasons for making a citizen's arrest."

"Well, the important thing is that you caught it and ultimately managed to exploit it to our advantage," Sonic stated happily as he threw his left elbow behind him in a sort of victory motion. He then added with ever the smallest of frowns, "It's too bad that I'm still considered a person of interest in his book, but it's better than being called a full out murderer by him. At least it gives me some wiggle room to work with here."

"I'm guessing that means you're going to go out of your way to try and solve this on your own," the echidna stated more than asked as he crossed his arms in thought and cast serious glances at the two.

"We consider Silver to be our friend just like you do," the two tailed fox said with a nod of his head. "We're not just going to sit back and do nothing while the police go on their investigation. And besides, you said you managed to have them keep it under wraps until eight in the morning, so wouldn't a couple more pairs of eyes be helpful to the cause?"

"Tails' right here Knux," the cobalt hedgehog agreed as he placed a friendly hand on his little brother's shoulder. "I'm not going to stand by like an idiot and do nothing while the person who assaulted my friend is running free. I might just be a regular run-of-the-mill defense attorney, but I do have some investigative skills on me. After all, I did manage to find a couple of things in here before Espio decided to get at me."

"Hey, don't go on as if I was going to say anything against you two helping us out here with the investigation," the detective said with a smile. "Of course I'll let you guys stay and help. I'll have to convince the police of that once they get here, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. If Vector's willing to help us out on this, then you should have free reign to search this office."

"And what's Vector got to do with the two of us being able to search this place with the officers' permission?" the attorney asked with raised eyebrows upon mention of the prosecutor. "And is he even still here in the Precinct at this hour?"

"He said that he had to work late tonight on a report for a case he and I managed to close yesterday. Knowing him, he wants to get that thing done as soon as possible so he could forget about it. He's probably still in his office all unaware of what's going on here. I better hurry and get to him. I need him here at the scene before the police so it'll be more convincing for them to believe that he was already here investigating the scene. You two just stay here and wait for me to come back with him. If you hear the police coming up before us though, get away from here before you're dragged into another murder accusation fiasco."

And with that warning said, Knuckles quickly ran down the hallway in search of Vector with hopes that he could beat the police that would be arriving at any given moment now. Both Sonic and Tails complied with the detective's orders and waited patiently by the office with their ears open for any signs of the police coming up. As such, they both stayed rather quiet and listened intently for any signs of movement from the stairwell. At the same time, they both did not want to talk much about anything since this was their moment to take a breather after such a crazy twenty or so past minutes. This was their moment to relax, and they were going to take it since they knew that they were most likely going to have a long night ahead of them. They were definitely going to need all the rest and energy that they could get.

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><p><strong>Updated Profiles:<strong>

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He was considered to be the prime suspect by Espio, but has since been downgraded to person of interest with the help of his little brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He helped his older brother escape grave suspicion under Espio's eyes.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He paid attention to the exchange between Tails and Espio regarding Sonic's innocence and sides with the two's side of events. He plans to take over the initial investigation.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it and considers himself to be an eyewitness to the whole ordeal.

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><p>Well, that's it for this chapter everybody. I hope you like how I am formatting this story's version of a courtroom scene.<p>

For those of you wondering why I'm having Tails take over with the "arguments" and "rebuttals", there's a reason behind it. I feel that this kind of interrogation is not limited to that of cross-examinations in an actual courtroom setting. As such, I felt that it fit Tails to do this being that he does have a logical side that can perform this task yet can't really conjoin it with actual courtroom rules due to his lack of courtroom studies.

Sonic, on the other hand, has practiced law hence his current job as an attorney. As such, he knows the ins and outs of how courtroom proceedings work. However, that kind of limits him on what he feels he can and can't ask because his mind is stuck on a courtroom's version of asking with a judge mediating it and counterarguments from the prosecution side. Basically, I'm playing on the thought that both are stuck on what they know and were taught and have a hard time adjusting to the other's style, hence Tails doing out-of-courtroom interrogations and Sonic only doing actual courtroom scenes.

Anyway, that was just my way of explaining to you all to the best that I can why I formatted the characters this way. I hope you all find it interesting. Until the next update everybody! And don't forget to leave a review before you leave!


	10. Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 4

Hello everybody! Sorry to all of you who have been waiting ever so patiently for a while for this story to be updated. You see, for those of you who have been rushing me and not understanding that I have my own life to conduct outside this wondrous site, I've been busy preparing for the finals in college. I had finished them last week, and have been trying to catch up on other personal stuff before working on this. As you can see being that this story is now here, I've finally found the time to write this and post this up. However, I'm willing to bet that if I take a month again, which is most likely to be expected here, the same person is going to try and grill me again simply because he's refusing to read these notes. Boy, ain't it annoying how you tell everybody something and that one person continues to rub it in your face as if they never even heard the warning?

Anyway, that's enough of my ranting about my pet peeve. That's most likely not what you came here to read about. I thank all of those who were _patient_ with me and my schooling and understanding that I also have a personal life like the rest of you. This story is a good one, but it's also starting to get a bit more complicated to write because of the details that I have presented. As such, it will require a bit of mind exercises to undo this web of lies that I've created here. Oh well, that's just all a part of the challenge here.

Don't forget to leave a review before you go ahead and move on to your next story. I always take your reviews, mainly the productive ones, into consideration and also any kinds of suggestions to mind. It helps to stimulate my mind to create other new ideas that could possibly work. Until the next update to any of my stories on here everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

Knife: A fruit knife that was found underneath the door of Silver's office. Dried blood is seen covering the entirety of the blade with flecks also on the wooden handle. Only Sonic's fingerprints are known to be on it at this point since he touched it earlier without gloved hands.

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the promotion party earlier that evening. It was found under Silver's desk completely covered in blood on both the front and back despite there being no significant traces of blood around that area. It is believed to have been kicked under there during the scuffle after being bloodied.

Silver's Shoe: A shoe that is covered in blood. Oddly enough, there is a small round spot underneath the sole that is unmarred by the crimson liquid. It is unclear on what caused this unnatural occurrence or why this is so.

White Fragment: A small white piece found underneath Silver's desk. It is smooth with rough and jagged edges, almost as if it were broken off of some kind of clay figure. It is unclear as to where it originally came from.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He was considered to be the prime suspect by Espio, but has since been downgraded to person of interest with the help of his little brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He helped his older brother escape grave suspicion under Espio's eyes.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He paid attention to the exchange between Tails and Espio regarding Sonic's innocence and sides with the two's side of events. He plans to take over the initial investigation.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old senior detective who worked hard for his current position. He was found in his office severely beaten up with bruises all over him. It is currently unclear as to who it was that caused his extensive injuries.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She was a running candidate for her district's senatorial race and a former Special Forces member in the army. She was found stabbed to death in Silver's office. It is unclear as to who it was that murdered her.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it and considers himself to be an eyewitness to the whole ordeal.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt. 4<strong>

After spending a little more than a minute waiting inside Silver's office that was now officially transformed into a crime scene, Knuckles came back with Vector following closely behind him and looking somewhat confused. As promised, the prosecutor was going to take on the guise of being the detective working outside of the local on the scene and investigating the area for evidence with Sonic and Tails helping him under "his request". However, his face seemed to reflect a bit of annoyance behind the confused front that was most likely a result of being pulled away from whatever it was he was doing on such short notice.

"Alright, let's hurry up and start looking busy before the cops get here," the crocodile announced as he put on a pair of regular ebon black gloves that looked like they were originally meant for driving purposes. "Everything should go pretty well so long as you two just pretend to be helping me out here and look like you're doing something productive. Officers are funny in that they don't like it when there are people like you two already messing around at a crime scene when they're not supposed to be."

"Where's Charmy and Espio?" Tails asked as the prosecutor now turned freelance detective threw him a pair of gloves that was almost the same color as Sonic's but was instead made out of latex. He had figured that the other two would be with him since they worked together as one unit. "Aren't they going to be helping us out here?"

"Charmy's busy crashing on the couch in my office and recovering from a sugar high he got during the party. Knowing him though, he should be up and about in about an hour or so. I have no idea where Espio is right now."

"He's right now taking a break in the cafeteria," Knuckles explained as he waited outside the doorway for the police to arrive. "Don't you remember me telling you that he was the one who accused Sonic of this crime when I came to get you?"

"Of course I do, but you were talking so fast and rushed that I barely had any time to let it sink into my head. However, let's just keep on looking busy here. I'll get your side of the story once we're in the clear here."

And barely a minute after they had started to officially investigate the crime scene, the sound of rushing footsteps were heard coming from the stairwell and into the hallway outside. A couple of seconds later, about three officers came in through the doorway right after the echidna had moved out of the way.

"Hello Detective Knuckles," one of the officers greeted the detective with a quick tip of his hat before he allowed his gaze to wander at the scene in front of him. The other two were also doing the same thing while also setting the things up that they had brought up with them. "Like you asked for, this is the bare minimum we can bring for the sake of investigating this crime scene. It's highly unorthodox to conduct an investigation in such a manner, but I can clearly see your reasoning behind it due to the circumstances.

"And who are these three in here?" the officer continued on as he pointed at the group still investigating the scene in front of him. "Why are they in here already scavenging the scene for evidence?"

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you officer," Vector said in greeting as he walked up to the officer and gave him a quick nod of his head. "The name's Vector. I'm originally a prosecutor by trade, but I have a little side business of my own that runs as a freelance detective agency of sorts. Knuckles here asked for my services being that he said you were going to take at least twenty minutes just to get here. He didn't want to take any chances and wanted to have the evidence preserved as quickly as possible. That and I happened to still be working in my office downstairs at the time."

"Hmm, that does sound like something he would do on the fly," he said as he let out a slow and small sigh that sounded a lot like a sense of thoughtfulness. "And who are the other two people loitering around behind you?"

"Oh, they were busy talking with me back at my office at the time the good detective asked for my help," the crocodile continued on without a hint of hesitation despite blatantly lying in front of a legal official before any of the others could get a chance to answer the question. "Being that they are a couple of good Samaritans, they decided to come here and help me with the investigation. Knuckles couldn't really help since he had to make sure this incident didn't leak throughout the entire precinct and cause a panic."

"I understand why you would want to allow the blue hedgehog to help, but why employ the aid of the fox? If I'm not mistaken, he's probably no older than twelve. He should be busy in bed sleeping for tomorrow's days' worth of education, not here in the middle of a murder investigation where he could be scarred for life."

"Tails doesn't go to school officer," the red furred detective quickly spoke up in a defensive manner. Both Sonic and Tails decided to listen in on the conversation since there were just too many distractions for their tastes to really be concentrating on the work at hand. "He has a brain that excels even the most advanced of high school students and potentially even that of college students taking the last step to their Master's Degree. As such, the district has seen fit to say he's not required to attend school like all the others because of his extraordinary gift. I've read his personal file before, so I can personally vouch for him in that he has every right to be here like the rest of us."

"Excelled mind or not, this isn't a place for a child like him to be hanging around," the officer continued on before one of the others came up and whispered something into his ear. He then said with a sigh as the other continued on to set up for their investigation and collection of evidence, "I suppose, however, that he's already seen all the horrors stored within this room. As much as it goes against my better judgment, the boy can stay along with the rest of you. Just make sure he doesn't end up wandering around and messing with everything in this room. The last thing any of us need tonight is to fill out a stupid report explaining why the scene was altered before we were finished with our investigation. Now if you all don't mind, I need to make sure that everything is being set up properly. In the meantime, you can all continue on with your investigation and search for evidence."

Without saying anything else, he walked over to where his other fellow officers were situated and began helping them set up. They had their gloves on and were taking cameras and other investigative items from a black duffel bag that one of them had brought along. It was clear that they had come well prepared.

"Ha, it's not as if he has any real authority on who gets to stay and leave here," Knuckles said in an undertone as he walked over to the others. "He doesn't have the right since I'm planning to take over the initial investigation here. I think it only fair that that be the case since I'm the first one here and have at least some knowledge about the crime."

"Can we just hurry up and get back to the investigation here?" Sonic asked as he started to sound just a bit restless. "Didn't you say that we should try and get as much done as possible before eight in the morning comes around? You said that's when she's supposed to be getting ready for some kind of special event."

"Sorry, I forgot about that," the detective apologized with a small shrug of his shoulders. "You and Tails keep on looking for more evidence; I'll check up on Ms. Kuro's body and see if I can establish an estimated time of death."

With those short but blunt instructions, everybody resumed with what it was they were doing before the police had arrived. Vector was carefully poking around where the body of Ms. Rose and Silver's unconscious form was in search for anything while Sonic and Tails searched the rest of the room that was not occupied by anybody. In other words, they were starting at the area behind the desk area being that it was the least disturbed and would probably not get in the officers' way.

"I'm guessing you already looked back here being that Espio said he caught you back here when he came in," the two tailed fox speculated as he carefully walked over the papers that were strewn all over the floor. He then continued on with a small sigh that held a small hint of annoyance behind it, "I never thought that somebody could be so persistent in that they're right while at the same time not having the full picture in front of them. Talk about being stubborn beyond belief. Anyway, did you manage to find anything that might be important for catching our attacker/murderer?"

"Yeah, I managed to find a couple of things," the blue hedgehog responded as he took the things he had found under the desk off from the top of it while trying to ignore his younger brother's quick attitude change from annoyance to curiosity. He had no idea when he had placed the items there, but he was happy that he had somehow remembered where they were amidst the chaos. "I found my Attorney's Badge down there, but it's completely covered in blood from both the front and back."

"And how did blood managed to get underneath the desk?" the young fox asked as he raised an eyebrow at the bloodied accessory before putting it into a sandwich bag. Sonic did not need to ask where he had received them from since he figured he probably got them from Vector at some point when he was not looking. "By the way Ms. Kuro's body is positioned, blood shouldn't have been able to travel all the way down there. She was stabbed on her front after all, not in her back."

"There isn't any down there," the attorney clarified as he recalled the conditions in where he first found it. "The only traces that you'll find there are small streak marks from when it was probably moved during the struggle."

"If that's the case, then Ms. Rose was stabbed either before or during the struggle with Silver. Since he doesn't have any kind of open wounds on him, it should be safe to say that the blood belongs to her."

"If that's true, then why is both sides of the badge bloodied? It was most likely on the floor when blood got onto it, so there shouldn't be any way that the entire second side of it would be like the front."

"…Sounds like something that we'll need to investigate into further when we have the time," Tails replied after a short pause as he shuffled the thought into the back of his head for later reference. "I just hope we can figure it out before our time's up. What else did you manage to find down there?"

"Well, there was this small White Fragment that I have no idea where it came from," Sonic said with a shrug of his shoulders as he showed the next thing he had found. "There's nothing in here that looks like it came from this except maybe the white walls, but it doesn't feel or even look like the same material."

"Doesn't look like it was touched by blood either," the two tailed fox said as he examined the piece before also putting it into a bag. "Well, until we have some idea as to where it came from, I don't think it'll do us any good to be thinking about it. What else did you manage to find in here Sonic?"

"Well, the last thing I found is underneath Silver's Shoe. There's this strange perfectly round mark underneath that's untouched by the blood all around it. I didn't have a chance to really check it out, so I'm not sure why it is."

"Hmm, I hope Vector doesn't mind too much if we go into his area of search for a little bit," he said before quickly making his way to where Silver's still unconscious form laid. Sonic soon followed closely behind. "Hey Vector, there's something around here that I want to check out. Do you mind if I stick around here for a bit?"

"So long as you don't get in my way," Vector responded without looking up from his examination of Silver's body. "The poor kid here must've put up a good fight or at least a struggle to have gotten these kinds of bruises. There's too much of them to indicate that he was simply knocked out after a couple."

"I'm guessing that's your unofficial version of Silver's Assault Report, huh?" Sonic asked in a tone that sounded more like a statement as Tails began to do whatever it was that he had in mind. "Nice to know that he wasn't planning on going down without a fight, even if it meant that he could've been killed in the process. Did you manage to figure out anything else about him that might help us?"

"Other than the fact that the only real damage on him are from some relatively heavy fist blows, nothing else is new here," the crocodile detective responded with a shrug of his shoulders as he bent down closer to the ground to get both a literal look and feel for the area. He placed his gold chain in his mouth so that it would not drag around the scene; it was also a bit of a habit he had to suck on it when he was trying to concentrate. "I'm no doctor, but I'd say he'd probably be out for another couple or so hours. Guess he should consider himself lucky that that seems to be the worst out of everything against him here. And Tails," he continued on when he caught a glimpse of the fox looking at Silver's Shoe, "I have no idea why that clean round spot is even there. Do you have any idea?"

"I think I have one," the two tailed fox answered with a thoughtful sigh as he began to examine the Attorney's Badge that was still resting inside its little bag. After a couple of seconds of contemplating whatever thought that was inside his head, he said, "I figured as much on that. This spot is the exact size and shape as this. That and there are also small ridge-like marks at the edges that are exactly the same as the front of the badge. This tells me this was caused when Silver stepped on it after Ms. Rose was stabbed. He must've not stepped in her blood yet when he trampled over it, hence the clean spot underneath his sole."

"Wow, I never noticed that before," the cobalt hedgehog admitted as he took a closer look at the shoe himself and saw that there were markings akin to that of the front of his Attorney's Badge. "I must've been too far to have really noticed them. But that still doesn't explain why the blood is on both sides."

"One thing at a time Sonic. The important thing here is that we managed to figure out what this strange circle was. I'm sure we'll figure out how it got both sides bloodied in no time. In the meantime, let's go see if Knuckles is done with his unofficial autopsy report. And thanks for getting us to stay here and help out Vector," the young fox added in an undertone so that only the two could hear.

"Not a problem little guy," the prosecutor stated with a smile as he continued to scan the area. "You guys earned my respect after showing me that even rookies could get the best of me and breeze through a case smelling like a bunch of fresh daisies. That and I kind of try and pay you back after trying to get you guilty for a crime you didn't even commit. I should've done my homework more before going into the fray."

"Oh, just forget about it Vector," the attorney stated with a wave of his hand in dismissal. "I can't believe that's still stuck in your mind. It's been almost a whole month when we first met and legally duke it out in court. You were just doing your job, so there's no need for you to be feeling sorry because of that."

"Hey Prosecutor Vector," one of the officers called out from their little corner that they made into their meeting spot. Apparently, it seemed as though they had finished setting up and were ready to take pictures of the crime scene and collect evidence. "Do you mind if we pulled you away for a little bit? There's something that we feel you'll be able to answer for us being that you were the first investigator on this scene."

"Alright, just hurry up and make it quick," he said in slight annoyance as he made his way to the three. At the same time, both Sonic and Tails were walking over to Knuckles who was still hanging around Ms. Kuro's body. "Don't go around taking forever talking to me. I want to finish this up as soon as I can."

"Did you manage to figure out anything for Ms. Kuro's Autopsy Report Knux?" Sonic asked as he knelt down next to the woman's body on the side away from the echidna so as to get a good look for himself.

"Of course I did," the other responded in mock offended tone. "I'm not as incompetent as some of the other detectives that work around here. I'm serious; some don't even try to make an effort on filling out their reports. And they actually have the guts to go about saying that they're better than me."

"And what did you figure out?" the cobalt hedgehog asked before the detective had a chance to further delve into personal pet peeves that he rather would not want to hear right now. "Me and Tails have already got the data about Silver's assault through Vector. According to him, he should be coming to in about a couple of hours. And that's considering if his amateur medical diagnosis is correct."

"Well, it's nice to hear some good news out of all this. In regards to Rose here," the detective continued on as he changed the subject back to Sonic's original question and motioned his head towards the fallen woman, "I don't think it's possible that she died immediately after being stabbed. There's just too much blood around her body for it to have come from just one single wound."

"So you're thinking that she was probably stabbed at least twice?" Tails asked as he looked at the body without crouching down.

"Oh, I know for a fact that she was stabbed only twice. Already thinking that it was an unusual amount of blood, I decided to check out her dress and noticed two distinct rip marks on it that are akin to something sharp piercing through the fabric. Thankfully, they were both not too marred by her flowing blood, so it was easy to tell that they were both entry points for the Knife. There's one on her upper abdomen, most likely the first stab, and a second situated on her chest dangerously close to her heart. She probably survived the first attack, and the killer went at her again for the finishing blow. There wouldn't be any viable reason for the killer go about desecrating her body if she already died on the first attack."

"He probably then pulled the weapon out of her now dead body and tried to use it against Silver," the cobalt hedgehog speculated as he turned the facts around in his head while making sure not to become confused. "That's the only thing that makes sense since the killer would have no other reason to have use of the blade for a third time. Being that he only had bruises from punches, he failed in regards to the weapon and caused it to end up underneath the door where I then found it upon coming back here."

"I also think it fair to say that she managed to put up a fight for her life since she's closer to the bookcase now void of books," the two tailed fox added as he noticed the close proximity between the two. "That and there's a Bloody Hand Print on the edges of one of the racks. She most likely used it to keep her balance after being stabbed the first time. She probably then moved forward a bit since just falling from right there wouldn't have caused her body to be right in front of the desk."

"The only thing that doesn't make sense then is why the blood isn't _on top_ of the books," Knuckles said as he emphasized the part that the young fox failed to explain. "She was clearly stabbed before they fell since there isn't any to be seen on top of them. That and I highly doubt any kind of impact that might've been made on the shelf would've made nearly all the books fall to the ground."

"Are you trying to tell us that we should start moving the books away so we can figure out if there's any blood on the floor?" the attorney asked as he walked to the scattered books while still in a crouched position.

"You're the one who suggested it Sonic; I never said anything like that the whole time we were talking about this. That does sound like a rather good idea to act on though. Hey officer," the echidna called out as he turned towards where the cops were still doing their work, "do you think you can take a photo of this area so that we'll be able to freely search the scene without having to worry about moving things around?"

"What do you think I've been waiting around here for, 'til a giant meteor to come crashing down on the planet and mark the end of the world?" one of the officers with heavy sarcasm dripping from his tone as he leaned against the wall with a simple black camera in his hands. The other two were currently sprinkling some powder on certain items around the room and dusting them off for any kind of fingerprints. "Hurry up and get out of my way so I can finish up my end of things here."

Without saying much of anything, the three quickly moved out of the officer's way and towards the back of the desk area. With another angry grumble, the officer began taking shots of the area they were previously investigating and did not seem to be showing signs of stopping anytime soon. They all just simply shrug their shoulders at each other at the man's obvious aggravation that seemed to have sprouted for no reason.

For the next couple of seconds, they just stood around in the room doing nothing and looking like a bunch of lost people. Being that they were pushed away from the only place that they could investigate in the room, they had no idea what to do. Sonic even went ahead and motioned towards the door in signal that they should probably just leave for now. Before any of them could act on that suggestion though, they were interrupted by the arrival of a new voice suddenly cutting through the room's relative silence.

"Well, what do we have here?" the voice that sounded strikingly familiar asked with an intrigued click of his tongue, startling the three from their contemplative thoughts. The cops and prosecutor, on the other hand, just continued on with their conversation and work. "I never would've thought that I'd see such police activity like this going on here at the Precinct. I guess that crime just doesn't care about the backdrop it wants to take place in."

When they turned around towards the doorway where they had heard the voice come from, they noticed that it had belonged to none other than Shadow. Naturally, they were all surprised to have seen him there since they did not even hear a single sound coming from the hallway outside. It was almost as if he was already hiding out on the floor somewhere waiting for the right time to appear.

"Shadow!" Knuckles exclaimed, clearly not expecting the other to arrive anytime soon. Vector looked up from his spot momentarily at the sudden outburst before going back to his work as if there were not anything out of the ordinary. "I-I didn't think that you'd still be here. What are you doing up here?"

"I believe I work here Knuckles," the ebon furred hedgehog simply replied with a noticeable roll of his eyes at having to answer such a painfully obvious question. He then carefully walked into the room as if the floor were laced with tacks that could pierce through a shoe's sole. "Don't you remember that I'm one of the top prosecutors in this district? As such, my office is up on the last floor, the seventh floor."

"N-no, what I meant was why are you back here at the Precinct so late tonight?" the echidna clarified as he quickly recovered from his shock. Both Sonic and Tails simply looked on with nothing to add onto the conversation since they were also surprised to be seeing him here. "You never really stay around this late unless there's some kind of case that you're working on and managed to catch your full interest."

"I came back here to collect some of my important documents and personal possessions that I left in my office when I went to attend my meeting earlier this evening," the prosecutor explained as he walked into the office with a sort of an indifferent look on his face as if there was not anything strange going on. "I was climbing up those accused stairs when I heard some cluttering coming from this floor. Apparently, the last person to come up here failed to shut the stairway door behind them."

"Damn, I guess I should've remembered to lock that door after the police came," the detective murmured under his breath as he quickly left the room and out to the hallway to supposedly do what he had suggested.

"And why are you and Tails here Sonic?" Shadow continued on without any hesitation as he made it towards the desk while being careful not to mar the scene. "I never thought I'd see you two at a murder scene as fresh as this. If anything, I expected you both to be at your house and fast asleep already."

"How'd you know that this was a murder?" Sonic asked, slightly taken aback at how quickly the other had managed to get a handle of the situation. "We didn't even say anything to you about it yet."

"It's not too hard to figure out when you actually take the time to look around. Being that the bodies are still here, I suspect that the police only just arrived here. What a stink this will be when word gets out that a senatorial candidate was murdered in here," he said with a sigh leaving his lips.

"Which is why Knuckles asked the Police Department to only send one small group of cops to investigate the scene," Tails explained just as said detective came back into the room. "He wanted to buy as much time as possible to try and get some answers before the media storm rolls around and create too many unfounded rumors."

"Hmm, as much as I like how confident that Detective Knuckles is in that he can find some reasonable answers that would help substantiate his reasons for asking only a small amount of investigative officials to be at this murder scene, I'm afraid what he's doing is just barely within the legal limits of his power," the prosecutor stated as he crossed his arms and looked at the echidna who was now inside the office once more. "In other words, I'm afraid that I'll have to ask him to forfeit his investigation to another fellow detective and also his badge pending an official investigation on his conduct."

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Silver's Assault Report: The detective was beaten into unconsciousness due to heavy blows, although the marks on his fists show that he did fight back. Besides the bruises from said punches, there are no other wounds present on his body and the blood on his fur is most likely from Ms. Rose's wounds. He's expected to wake up in a couple of hours, but Vector, the detective who doesn't have much doctor skills, isn't completely sure.

Ms. Rose's Autopsy Report: She was murdered between midnight and one in the morning on 5/7. The cause of death was from two stab wounds, the first one suspected to be the abdomen and the second close to her heart. As such, she's suspected to have survived the first attack. Death was immediate on the second blow.

Bloody Hand Print: A print formed by blood that was found on one of the racks on the currently empty bookshelf. It's suspected to belong to Ms. Rose since she was the only two in the room to have lost blood. When compared to the distance from where it was found to where her body was, it's reasonable to believe that she was alive and moved around a bit before being killed.

**Updated Evidence:**

Silver's Shoe: The mark underneath the detective's shoe was made when it stepped the front of Sonic's Attorney's Badge. It shows that the badge was not fully drenched in blood sometime during the scuffle in the office.

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the party earlier that evening. It was found underneath Silver's desk and drenched in blood. However, Silver's Shoe proved that it was not bloodied on both sides at some point during the murder.

Knife: The weapon that was used in the murder of Ms. Rose. The evidence found at the scene suggests that it was used on the woman twice; It was also probably used on the fight against Silver since the blade was found underneath the door rather than on her body. Sonic's fingerprints are on the wooden handle due to a rookie mistake on his part when he first discovered the scene.

**New Profiles:**

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog prosecutor who studied abroad to earn his Prosecutor's Badge. His office is located on the upper floors of the local Precinct. As such, he just happened upon the scene while making his way up to his office. He is currently accusing Knuckles of misconduct on his part and requesting he forfeit his control on the investigation and subject himself to an internal conduct investigation.


	11. Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 5

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all. To be perfectly honest, this chapter was supposed to be a part of the last one, but I decided to separate it into two components, one in investigative form and the other in argument forming. I found that putting them together not only made it unnecessarily long, but it also did not really flow well with the overall story.

Anyway, this explains why this chapter came so unusually quickly this time around. It was already written and just needed to be tweaked here and there for better reading purposes. I hope that you all end up enjoying this chapter as much as you have with the other previous ones.

Oh, and just as a little side note, I'll be starting college again tomorrow. As such, this story along with my others will be delayed in their overall speed of updating. Just throwing out that friendly warning for those of you who will be most likely waiting for that next update.

Don't forget to leave a review before you move onto your next story. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

Silver's Shoe: The mark underneath the detective's shoe was made when it stepped the front of Sonic's Attorney's Badge. It shows that the badge was not fully drenched in blood sometime during the scuffle in the office.

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the party earlier that evening. It was found underneath Silver's desk and drenched in blood. However, Silver's Shoe proved that it was not bloodied on both sides at some point during the murder.

Knife: The weapon that was used in the murder of Ms. Rose. The evidence found at the scene suggests that it was used on the woman twice; It was also probably used on the fight against Silver since the blade was found underneath the door rather than on her body. Sonic's fingerprints are on the wooden handle due to a rookie mistake on his part when he first discovered the scene.

White Fragment: A small white piece found underneath Silver's desk. It is smooth with rough and jagged edges, almost as if it were broken off of some kind of clay figure. It is unclear as to where it originally came from.

Silver's Assault Report: The detective was beaten into unconsciousness due to heavy blows, although the marks on his fists show that he did fight back. Besides the bruises from said punches, there are no other wounds present on his body and the blood on his fur is most likely from Ms. Rose's wounds. He's expected to wake up in a couple of hours, but Vector, the detective who doesn't have much doctor skills, isn't completely sure.

Ms. Rose's Autopsy Report: She was murdered between midnight and one in the morning on 5/7. The cause of death was from two stab wounds, the first one suspected to be the abdomen and the second close to her heart. As such, she's suspected to have survived the first attack. Death was immediate on the second blow.

Bloody Hand Print: A print formed by blood that was found on one of the racks on the currently empty bookshelf. It's suspected to belong to Ms. Rose since she was the only two in the room to have lost blood. When compared to the distance from where it was found to where her body was, it's reasonable to believe that she was alive and moved around a bit before being killed.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He was considered to be the prime suspect by Espio, but has since been downgraded to person of interest with the help of his little brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He helped his older brother escape grave suspicion under Espio's eyes.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He paid attention to the exchange between Tails and Espio regarding Sonic's innocence and sides with the two's side of events. He plans to take over the initial investigation.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old senior detective who worked hard for his current position. He was found in his office severely beaten up with bruises all over him. It is currently unclear as to who it was that caused his extensive injuries.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She was a running candidate for her district's senatorial race and a former Special Forces member in the army. She was found stabbed to death in Silver's office. It is unclear as to who it was that murdered her.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it and considers himself to be an eyewitness to the whole ordeal.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog prosecutor who studied abroad to earn his Prosecutor's Badge. His office is located on the upper floors of the local Precinct. As such, he just happened upon the scene while making his way up to his office. He is currently accusing Knuckles of misconduct on his part and requesting he forfeit his control on the investigation and subject himself to an internal conduct investigation.

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><p><strong>Chapter 11: Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt. 5<strong>

"What the hell are you talking about, Shadow?" Sonic exclaimed loudly as he barely managed to keep his voice just below a shout. He saw within the corner of his eyes Knuckles looking rather stoic despite being accused of conducting misconduct in how he was handling the case. "That's just a bunch of nonsense! What do you mean Knuckles needs to undergo some department investigation?"

"I mean exactly what I said," Shadow simply replied calmly as he lightly cracked his knuckles. "Being that I'm higher up in the social ladder than him, I can order him to drop his hold on the investigation and be put under an internal investigation. And that's exactly what I'm doing right now."

"I meant why are you forcing him to give up the investigation and be placed under suspicion for wrongdoing?" the cobalt hedgehog clarified through gritted teeth, his annoyance clearly being projected in his voice as he stared hard at the other. "Just what exactly is it did he do wrong that you would even consider doing something like that, especially since he's your friend and all that?"

"When it comes to the matter of the law, there's no such thing as best friends or family," the ebon furred hedgehog responded in the same calm tone as he crossed his arms once more. "There are only those who break the law and those who enforce it. People like me and you are only mediators to see if the accused has broken any laws or rules made by high officials and lead things down the right path, although I am allowed to accuse a detective being that I'm above them in the chain of command. And to answer your main question, I believe Tails has already made it known as to why I made such a move."

"Wh-what are you talking about, Shadow?" Tails asked with a small stutter in his tone at being so suddenly dragged into the mini argument that was quickly unfolding in front of him. "What exactly did I say to make you think Knuckles did something wrong?"

"Well, I'm sure you said something about the detective calling the police department and asking that they hold back on sending their full power here at a crime scene. As it is apparent by just looking in here, he only asked for just a few officers to come and collect evidence and preserve the scene. And you said that he did it so that he could buy both you and Sonic some time to do some investigating of your own so as to prevent a media storm of potential rumors. Do you deny ever saying something along the lines of that?"

"N-no, I-I remember saying something like that," the two tailed fox admitted, his stomach starting to churn with uneasiness as he started to realize where this was leading up to. "I-I'm guessing that I told you something that Knuckles shouldn't have done."

"Oh, you couldn't be more right on that, Tails. It's because of what you said that I have reason to believe that the detective had went beyond his powers in requesting that the police send only a small number of officers to investigate the scene. That isn't something that he's allowed to do since his status within the Precinct doesn't give him the right."

"Oh, now that's just a bunch of crazy talk!" Sonic exclaimed, his voice slightly higher from when he had first exclaimed earlier and now gaining the attention of both the officers and Vector. They quickly went back to what they were doing when they saw it was just the attorney talking with the prosecutor. "There's no way that Knuckles would've done something that would be out of his powers and practically illegal. You haven't even given him a chance to defend himself against your accusation."

"I think that's a bit of a redundant point, Sonic," Shadow stated as he stole a glance at Knuckles who had stood silent ever since the accusation was made. "I'm sure he knows full well how wrong he was in doing this."

"Well, I'm not satisfied until I hear it straight out of his mouth," the cobalt hedgehog countered stubbornly as he turned his gaze at the echidna. "Come on Knuckles; go ahead and tell Shadow how badly wrong he is here."

For a couple of seconds, the detective simply stood silent with eyes that were unreadable. After letting out a heavy sigh that he seemed to have been keeping in, he said, "…Shadow's right here, Sonic. I…I wasn't supposed to have asked the police to send only a few men here. I don't have any right to normally do that."

"Are you satisfied now?" the prosecutor asked as he looked at the shocked face of the teen defense attorney. "You heard it straight from the horse's mouth. Now before we get anymore sidetracked, let me go ahead and escort Detective Knuckles down to the first floor where I'll have to request the chief to suspend him pending an investigation."

"B-but I did it under extenuating circumstances!" the detective quickly countered as the prosecutor began to walk towards the door while beckoning for him to follow suit. "The situation that I knew of when I made the call made it that I had to pull off something like that."

"Yeah, you just go ahead and tell that story to the chief when I bring you to him. We'll see if he believes your story. I sure don't."

Still shocked at hearing the red furred echidna doing something beyond his powers as a detective and being punished for it, all Sonic could do was watch as Shadow quickly walked back into the office and took a hold of Knuckles' arm with the intent of dragging him out. Before they could even set foot for the door, however, Tails quickly raised an objection and thus stopped them in their tracks.

"Hold on a moment!" he exclaimed as a thought suddenly came to him. "Knuckles just said that what he did was under extenuating circumstances. Don't you think that alone merits some amount of scrutiny before you go and take him to the chief?"

"I hardly see how a statement like that would hold any kind of importance to you, Tails," the ebon furred hedgehog responded with an eyebrow raised in confusion. At this time, Vector and the officers had moved outside to the hallway so they could continue their discussion in relative peace. "You don't have any business having to protect him from trouble that he had wrought upon himself."

"But aren't I allowed to substantiate his innocence to you?" the two tailed fox questioned. "After all, I happened to be here since this whole thing began, so I'm more than qualified to try and validate his overall innocence."

"Hmm, I suppose you're right on that accord. As a witness, you can argue to a certain extent for one's innocence on scene for something they're wrongly accused for. Do you really want to pursue that path though? It's not easy to defend one on something that you have no knowledge of, you know?"

"That doesn't mean that I can't try. And if you're so worried about me now knowing enough about the circumstances surrounding Knuckles' potential suspension, then perhaps you'll be able to shed some light on the situation for me. That way, I'll be on even fighting ground with you and your argument."

"You're really dead set on protecting him from me, aren't you?" Shadow mused quietly as his eyes shown with a bit of thoughtfulness. After pausing for a couple of seconds, he responded, "Alright, I'll go ahead and indulge you on your little challenge. You, the witness, will be trying to prove to me, the accuser, as to why Knuckles, the accused, was in the right and shouldn't be punished with relinquishment of the investigation and suspension pending an official conduct investigation. Is that clear?"

"Clear as crystal," Tails stated with a quick nod of his head that showed he understood what was going on. He then added as he stole a quick glance at Sonic, "And don't try to bug me while I'm doing this Sonic. I'll probably need all the concentration I can get for this if I want to help Knuckles out of this."

"As if I was even thinking of bothering you with this," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a shrug of his shoulders as he took a step backwards. "After all, you are the expert in making reasonable arguments outside of the courtroom, so the stage is yours. Go and get that brain of yours to work its magic!"

"Tails…," Knuckles murmured under his breath, his mind right now in a state of amazement at how the young fox was so eager to defend him despite the fact he had no idea about the rules regarding the Precinct detectives. He did not think that the boy would be so eager to protect him from trouble despite being at a severe disadvantage.

"So, how would you like us to start off this little mock imitation of a mini-court proceeding?" the ebon furred hedgehog asked as he crossed his arms and prepared himself for a questioning session. "We don't really know how or where to start without an opening question of sorts. I know that you know about this little technicality since you've been in court before and seen how things work."

"Well, how about we start with you telling me a bit about the legal powers that the Precinct detectives have at their disposal?" the two tailed fox asked without thinking twice about it. "I don't know anything about it, and I want to be on even ground when I'm defending Knuckles here."

_**Argument: A Detective's Legal Powers  
><strong>_

Well, let me try to explain this in as simple a way as possible for the sake of time. The one key thing that dictates which detective has usage of certain legal powers is their promotional status. Senior detectives can reserve the right to prevent the details of a murder from being made public for a certain amount of time if the situation calls for it. Regular detectives, however, are not allowed to exercise such power. The only time the rules can be bent is when extenuating circumstances arise and they are the first detective on scene.

_**End Argument**_

"Did you really try to jump through such a small loophole in the law just so that you would be able to protect me from any further trouble?" Sonic asked with raised eyebrows as he understood most of what Shadow had explained to them. "I really appreciate it that you went out of your way just so that you could give me any help you can afford, but I'm not worth risking your entire job over."

"And what was it that you needed help on, Sonic?" Shadow asked as he also raised his eyebrows at this statement. "In all my years that I've known you, you never struck me as the type of person to go about asking for help what with your independent stubborn side always taking center stage."

"Sonic had managed to get himself into the role of prime suspect for the murder of Ms. Rose," Knuckles explained as he rubbed the back of his neck a bit in nervousness. "However, that's not the reason why I had requested only the smallest amount of police presence possible at this scene."

"Really?" the ebon furred hedgehog replied with raised eyebrows. He then said in a tone that reflected his skepticism on the subject, "Forgive me for saying this, but I find that hard to believe. I know that you and Sonic are good friends and would do anything to ensure that the other is safe and well protected."

"If you don't mind Shadow, can I ask you a couple of questions regarding what you told us a few seconds ago?" Tails asked before his brother and the detective had a chance to argue against what the other had just said. "There are a couple of things that I'm confused about and want clarified."

"Go ahead and ask away, Tails," the prosecutor stated with a nod of his head that signified he was ready to answer what the young fox had to ask him. "I am curious to see how well you can mince words and create logical counterarguments."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"I would suppose that the higher up in the chain of command you are in terms of this job, the more advantages you'll receive to have at your disposal in terms of what the law can allow you to do," Tails said as he tried to summarize Shadow's explanation. "As such, you've already described the differences that a regular detective and a senior detective have apart from their promotional status."

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that you'll acquire more advantages as you climb up this social working ladder," Shadow rephrased with a shake of his head in disagreement to the two tailed fox's version of thoughts. "Rather, it's more like you gain new tricks that you can employ to your benefit provided that the situation fits the timing of when you exercised usage of it. Think of it as debating whether or not an officer's usage of a gun is justified except without those immediate deadly consequences that can't be undone."

"And what does this have to do with those legal limits that you were talking about earlier, Shadow?" Sonic asked as he quickly grew impatient with the entire thing and wanted to know why the other thought what Knuckles did in an attempt to help him was borderline illegal. "I want to know why you're trying to botch up Knuckles' efforts here."

"Sonic, you're not helping," Knuckles hissed out through his teeth as he stood back and allowed the young fox to do his side of the work. After all, he had already witnessed how well his interrogation and inquisition skills were, so he bore high faith in that he would be able to at least mitigate the damage being dealt to him.

"You really have to learn to be a bit more patient outside of the courtroom, Sonic," the ebon furred hedgehog replied with a clearing of his throat as an indicator of his irritation at being interrupted. He then continued on while ignoring the cobalt hedgehog's question, "I think I can see why now that Tails is taking over the role as inquisitor. He has more patience than you do, regardless whether or not he's bound by the rules of a courtroom setting."

"Well, I'm sorry to be bursting your image of me being a patient inquisitorial guy here Shadow, but could we please hurry this up and get back to the main topic?" the fox asked as he tried to get back to their original line of conversation. "I think you've told us earlier that a senior detective has both the ability and right to withhold the disclosure of a murder required by them from their higher-ups and other law officials save a choice few that they want to inform if they feel it necessary. On the other hand, regular detectives cannot exercise that right unless certain circumstances and requirements deem it necessary for them to do so. Do you mind telling me what these special requirements and circumstances are in the eyes of the law?"

"I think I'll explain the process of the senior detective's ability before I go onto those special circumstances," the prosecutor stated as he loosely crossed his arms and stood silent for a second. Seeing this, the cobalt hedgehog suddenly became impatient and let out a rather rude sigh in signal for the other to hurry up, despite Tails's clear expressions of annoyance at the action. "You see, they can't just go about withholding every single report of a murder whenever they feel like it. They have the right to do so whenever they want, but then they are subject to a minor investigation to see if their actions were founded if they exercise that right. If they are unfounded, then they are punished by the Precinct by means of suspension or working without pay for at most two months. You can see how they take their investigations seriously and don't play around with actions such as this."

"It's because of these high stakes that regular detectives like myself aren't allowed to have the option of exercising said technique," the echidna explained with a small sigh as he also crossed his arms. "It requires a great judge of character and the ability to read the situation surrounding the murder both quickly and efficiently, something that we don't tend to have for a while until ample practice and time on the force. So being that I'm a regular detective, I wasn't supposed to have withholding the official reporting of this murder."

"And that is the main difference between both the senior and regular detectives," the defense attorney stated more than asked as he tried to surmise the small explanation of the powers certain detectives have. "I think I can see now why the exercising of these powers isn't something to be taken lightly, regardless of the promotional level that a detective has inside this Precinct. I can't believe that you actually did that despite knowing how much potential trouble you could get yourself in for it. But Shadow, why would they even allow such a move to be made if they're just going to put such heavy restrictions?"

"Because there are times when making such a move is the only option a detective can make. While they will be subjected to a temporary conduct investigation, it's the only way to see and prove whether or not they were right in trying to keep knowledge of a crime to only a choice few. Doing so at the wrong time would then make it seem like the detective was trying to hide things from a scene of a crime. That's why there's such a strong offensive stance on the move; it's to defer them from even thinking of committing such an action unless they feel it absolutely necessary to do so."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"Wow, I never thought that detectives had such tricks at their disposal," Tails responded with a low whistle as he tried to digest all of the information he had just learned in the past few minutes. "It's even more amazing at how the people who came up with this idea formatted it so that they won't go about haphazardly exercising it at every chance they get. It's almost like a kamikaze kind of method if you think about it."

"I suppose you could call it that," Shadow agreed with a quick nod of his head as he chose to lean against the wall. "However, even the most likely to be suicidal of techniques are the only course of action. You see, there are times when the situations surrounding a murder or any other scene are just too extreme or suspicious to immediately have them passed on to the police for their full investigation. As such, if a regular detective were to stumble upon a murder scene and see or hear something completely off, they can then go ahead and withhold from telling the proper investigative forces about it. Of course, they would then face an even harsher investigation on their actions."

"And just what is the penalty for regular detectives if the investigation finds that they have exercised poor judgment on this accord?" Sonic asked as he felt like he knew what the answer was going to be. "I doubt that it'll be a temporary pay suspension that senior detectives would suffer as punishment."

"Immediate termination from their position as detective and a permanent mark on their personal record that goes against them should they want to work in upholding the law again. After all, usage of a right not accessible to you is a breach of rules which then reflects on the lack of following laws that they swore to uphold. However, some exceptions can be made if the circumstances find them to be sound. I'm sure you already know what those circumstances are since I've already explained them to you."

"And that's the reason why you feel that Knuckles was in the wrong here?" the two tailed fox asked as he tried to think of another form of attack. "Do you think you can explain it in a little more detail for us why you felt you were right?"

_**Argument: Reason for Halting the Investigation  
><strong>_

As I said earlier, the power to withhold information of a crime from officers isn't something to be considered lightly. I'm sure it's clear to you as it is to me that Knuckles has exercised this power that's not even available to him. That's not what's in dispute here. What is being argued is whether or not the circumstances surrounding his decision was enough to grant him special permission to do so. Being that there hasn't been anything substantiating to me his acceptable special circumstances, I'm afraid that I have to go by the law and subject him to an internal conduct investigation.

_**End Argument**_

"And you say that you can't find any kind of special circumstances that would give Knuckles the legal right to pull off such a gutsy move," Tails surmised as he rolled the information around in his head and quickly straightened them out. "That's why you said earlier that his actions were practically just past the legal boundary into the illegal should there be nothing that could support his actions. Now I understand your reasoning for wanting to get him into trouble. At least it's good to know you didn't have a bone to pick with him or any other petty reason like that."

"I assure you Tails; everything that I do along the lines of the law is not driven by any of my petty thoughts or desires," Shadow responded with a huff of his breath at the young teen's comment. "If I happened to have any bone to pick with anybody, I would always do so within the rightful boundaries of the law. Thankfully, there's rarely a time when I do have a grudge against a particular somebody, so I rarely do that."

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but how is this supposed to be showing whether or not I'm right in what I did?" Knuckles butted in as he started to sound a bit impatient. "I'm starting to get tired of being put under the eyes of suspicion. I've already had to go through that once from being accused of murder; I would like to get out of this quicker than that time."

"You really got to learn how to relax a bit, Knux," Sonic stated as he tried to calm the short-tempered echidna. "It's all a part of how Tails works here. He asks questions, even the ones that seemingly have no importance, in order to get the answers he needs. You do want him to help you get out of this mess, don't you?"

Instead of supplying the cobalt hedgehog with an answer, the detective simply let a sigh escape his lips. He knew that Tails was trying to help him out here, but he was still getting tired at being under suspicion for doing something wrong. Being accused of murder two weeks ago almost cost him his job; he would be damned if he lost it over this.

"Anyway, why don't we go ahead and continue on with this question and answer session?" the ebon furred hedgehog asked as he tried to steer their attention back to the main point at hand. "Like in court, I hate it when we end up getting sidetracked onto something else that holds no importance to the current issue."

"Alright, there's no need to start getting testy about this, Shadow," the two tailed fox responded as he waved his hand in a form of dismissal. "The way you're going on, it's like you have something important to do later. I doubt that's the case since you can't possibly have anything so desperately important at almost two in the morning."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"You said something earlier about requiring special circumstances in order for a regular detective to be able to request that only a small amount of officers to be allowed to a crime scene," Tails recapped as he went back to what Shadow had previously said and tried to find something that could prove to be a useful defensive front. "Do you think you can describe for us what these special circumstances might be?"

"Unfortunately, this is one of those things that's pretty hard to explain in suitable detail," Shadow responded with a shrug of his shoulders as he peeled himself from the wall and stood up straight. "For lack of a better explanation, these kinds of circumstances are something that need to be carefully reviewed by senior detectives or, in rare instances, prosecutors before they can be considered special or not. Of course, I just happened to stumble upon this ever-so-wonderful murder scene, so I'm just reviewing this being that I don't want to waste time looking for another detective to look over this. Overall, it depends on the things that caused the detective to make the decision that causes it to be considered special or not."

"So what you're getting at here is that unless you know exactly what it was that made Knuckles ask for only a limited amount of officers to come here, you can't really determine if he was in the right," Sonic responded as he crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "That is what you're saying here, right?"

"That's basically it in a nutshell, Sonic," the ebon furred hedgehog confirmed with a nod of his head. "If you want me to determine right here and now if the detective's actions were correct, you'll have to tell me the circumstances when he had first discovered the scene. And I want to hear it from you before I hear it from the detective's mouth. If you can't do that for me, then I'm afraid I'm forced to believe that he had did this illegally. This isn't something that's to be taken lightly like some kind of innocent mistake, so it's best to think of the person who enacted the ability as guilty of wrongfully doing so until a proper investigation. That's how the Precinct wants to handle situations like this."

"Ha, that sounds like a pretty stupid way for Precinct officials to be taking care a possible ethics problem if you ask me," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a huff of his breath that reflected both his annoyance and disbelief. His little brother gave off a small sigh along with a light shake of his head at his lack of professionalism at the situation. "And regardless whether or not you're right, why are you trying to pick on Knuckles here? Isn't he your friend just as much as Tails and I are?"

"Friendship shouldn't play any kind of role in lieu of an investigation regardless if it's on murder or work ethic," the ebon furred hedgehog stated as he walked over to the chair behind the desk and took a seat on it after quickly checking that it was clean of blood or anything else that could be used for evidence. "You should already know that basic rule since you're a defense attorney who's represented two different people for murder. Don't forget that I've worked against you on the second case of your career; I've also seen the footage of your very first case. Amazingly enough, the defendants on both of those cases just so happened to be people you consider to be your good friends; both of them also happen to be in here with us right now. I've seen how you've managed to keep things on a professional level when in the courtroom. Why should this be any exception for you?"

"That's a fundamental rule in terms of the law, Sonic," Knuckles added as he shook his head at how the blue furred hedgehog seemed oblivious to simple court ethics. "The law and court isn't something that can play favorites. As such, upholders of the law like you and me shouldn't have our decisions made simply because the person we know is our friend and we _believe_ that they are innocent. That just isn't how things work here. I'm sure they taught you that when you took the class to obtain your Attorney's Badge, or did you just happen to not be listening on that particular part?"

"If I weren't listening in my classes, then I wouldn't have been able to pass the bar exam with flying colors, Knux," the defense attorney countered as he started to sound a bit childish with his argument. "Did that thought manage to pass through your head? I trained myself to keep my emotions in check when inside a courtroom. I don't think I really need to show off that much restraint when I'm outside in the field."

"Wow, that's probably the most childish answer I've ever heard you come up with," Tails stated as he decided to put his two cents on the topic. "This is exactly the reason why I decided to become the inquisitor when asking people outside of court questions. I know you well enough to know that you have little to no control over a good portion of your emotions. You need to learn some out-of-court restraint!"

"As interesting as this all sounds, I hardly think this is really all that important for me to listen," Shadow butted in with a small chuckle at the childish display unfolding before him. This did, however, earn him back the attention of the three. "Let's just get back to the main problem at hand here and deal with personal arguments later.

"As an upholder of the law who is also higher up in the chain of command, I'm afraid I'll have to subject Detective Knuckles to an ethics investigation since there isn't any evidence that says he was within his legal right to withhold the revelation of this murder to higher authorities," he continued on once he felt that he had their attention once again. "It's not like you'll be able to continue on with your investigation anyway since the officer is still taking photos of the spot you want to check out. Not like that will make any difference since what you're probably looking for doesn't have anything to do with his questionable conduct."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"True, we can't really do much with our intended investigative spot still being occupied by the officer," Tails admitted with a sigh as he mentally wondered how much longer they were going to have to wait for it. "In that case Shadow, I'll just continue whittling away the time by trying to prove to you that Knuckles didn't do anything illegal when he requested that there be very minimal police presence here."

"And how do you propose to do that, Tails?" Shadow asked, his voice reflecting intrigue at the young fox's determination as he uncrossed his arms and messed with the ends of his gloves a bit. "It's one thing to be showing off great inquisitive skills and proving your mettle through the creation of legit and logical arguments; it's another to be trying to prove a veteran of the law wrong when you barely know anything about it yourself. While I do admire and admit that your skills could rival that of even the most seasoned of detectives here, your lack of overall knowledge on the law shall be your downfall here. After all, arguments regarding the law aren't easily won when the arguer himself lacks knowledge of it."

"Just because I'm not that well educated in the way of the law doesn't mean that I can't produce theories that pertain to the main argument here," the two tailed fox countered as he crossed his arms a bit in a defiant manner. "And before you say anything, allow me the chance to present my theory to you on why I believe Knuckles' usage of the abilities reserved only for senior detectives was well within his legal limits. It's only fair after all before you go about disregarding my side of things."

"Alright, I'll let you humor me for a moment," the ebon furred hedgehog stated with a sigh and a shake of his head, a clear indication that he thought this was going to be nothing but a waste of time. "I could use a good laugh right now to offset my ever mounting piles of stress anyway. So what is this theory that you say will help show that Detective Knuckles acted within the boundaries of his legal powers?"

"Well, you weren't here when we first discovered this horrible murder, so let me give you a quick brush-up on it. Sonic and I were the first to discover it, but we wouldn't have if he didn't go and forget something here in this office in the first place," he added with an annoyed look at Sonic before continuing on. "Anyway, we were the only two in here at the time, so I ran to get help while Sonic stayed behind and tried to see how Silver was doing. Needless to say, he got caught examining the scene by a certain somebody and was put under citizen's arrest until I came back with Knuckles in tow."

"And since Sonic was no doubt considered to be the only suspect in this tragedy, the detective called the police and asked that they send only the bare minimum and keep quiet about the incident in order to buy time to clear his name," the prosecutor finished off as he felt he had a reasonable understanding of the theory. "That and the traffic gridlock because of that senatorial candidate's fundraiser party helped with the stall tactics. It's clear that Knuckles managed to at least somewhat clear his name regarding this case since the good attorney is still standing here and chatting away with us."

"And that's why we're saying you're wrong in that Knux never did anything illegal," Sonic concluded with a triumphant nod of his head. "He knew that I was the wrong person being detained for this murder and wanted to prevent my arrest by the cops while we searched this place for solid evidence proving my innocence. In essence, he kept the higher authorities from arresting me by giving me some time to obtain some solid evidence."

"Hmm, I suppose that's something that could be considered as a special circumstance if the detective knows the person initially detained is innocent of a heinous crime such as murder. It is a stretch to be thinking that, but if you three continue on with your investigation at this pace and manage to dig up something worthwhile, then I would say that Knuckles' actions are just barely within legal boundaries."

"I suppose then that you'll be accepting nothing but solid evidence, right?" Tails asked as he felt that he already knew what the answer was. "No conjectures or any of my other theories regardless if they make sense or not."

"That's what I naturally want here. I can't let possible wrongdoers off the hook that easily without first being adequately proven wrong. Then again, you did prove to me something that I didn't previously know about being that I wasn't here from the moment this whole thing started. This just tells me how uninformed I am with the pertinent information regarding this incident that's already at hand for you all. As such, I'm willing to give you three the benefit of the doubt in that you're being honest with me. Just don't go botching it up and make me look like an idiot for doing so."

"Wow, it sounds like you managed to mellow up a bit from the last time we met," the cobalt hedgehog stated with a smirk coming onto his face. "I guess you only play the tough guy when you're busy prosecuting cases in court. Nice to see that you actually have a reasonable side to you that's easy to approach and talk to. Thanks for finally backing off from you attack against Knuckles here."

"However, I'll be overseeing you three's actions while you perform your investigation," Shadow quickly added before the attorney's smirk could get any bigger. "If you want me to keep my accusations in check until the rest of the police decide to come here later, then I suggest you allow me to watch over you."

"…You know, I take back all that crap I said a few seconds ago about you being mellower and a more reasonable person," the attorney grumbled with a pout as he crossed his arms tightly to signify his annoyance at the prosecutor's attitude. "You're still just as testy and moody outside of the courtroom as you are in it."

"I figured your trust for something as delicate as this would come with something attached to it," Knuckles stated as he did not sound as surprised as the other two looked. "If that's your only condition for keeping me off the hook until either we find concrete evidence or the rest of the police arrive, then I say that's a pretty fair trade. And don't you two even think about saying anything against it Sonic and Tails," he added as he shot them both a sharp look as their mouths were slightly open at the beginning of their protest. "I'm more than capable to be making these decisions for myself."

"Hey, I wasn't going to say that you needed to be kept on a leash like a little puppy, Knux. I don't know what Tails was planning to say, but I was actually going to agree with you before you went ahead and cut us off."

"I was actually going to say the same thing, believe it or not," the two tailed fox admitted with a quick nod of his head. "After all, we can't really continue on with our investigation if we don't agree with Shadow's condition and respect your decisions."

"Speaking of investigations, I suggest that you continue on with what you were previously thinking of doing," the ebon furred hedgehog responded as he pointed towards the empty bookshelf where the officer was just finished with his photo taking of the area. "It looks like the photographer's done taking pictures of the crime scene. I'm sure you already know this, but you have until sometime early in the morning before people start to get suspicious about Ms. Rose missing from her current residency. If you need me, I'll be standing in the corner behind the desk watching over you three."

"Gee, thanks for saying that you're going to have your damn eagle eyes pinned on us, Shadow," Sonic stated sarcastically with a heavy sigh as the prosecutor made his way to his designated corner. "It just really helps not make us feel so pressured into finding the real culprit of this crime before time runs out."

* * *

><p>Hey everybody. Just here to tell you that this is one of those very rare chapters where there isn't anything new to put down here. No new evidence or anything that needs to be updated. I couldn't find any way to incorporate new things into this chapter, yet I also wanted this to be more of a chance to prove Knuckles' innocence in his choices. Just a little note here in case you all thing there was a huge typo and I forgot or something like that.<p> 


	12. Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 6

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. I know I said in the last one that I might take another month or so to update, but I just got a sudden rush last night on an idea and went typing like crazy to get it all down on paper. It's about time that I can finally get the case moving down it's original course.

To be very honest with all of you, I have been trying to put parts into the story in an attempt to get it going forward, but the last version of the cross-examinations had close to nothing to do with the actual case. That was because I was running out of ideas there and wanted to find some way to bring Shadow into the story. I was basically trying to stall while trying to see how to get the case to the point where the real perpetrator would be revealed.

Anyway, now that you all know that little detail, I hope that you'll all end up enjoying this new chapter. Trust me when I say this; this particular case was and still is hard to close up from the moment I posted the first chapter for it. I'm slowly getting to the ending of this while also introducing another mystery that was meant to be the crux of this story. For those of you wondering what it is, I gave small mentions of it every now and then in the last two cases. This chapter will be the one to have the most mention of it.

Hope that you all enjoy this chapter as much as I had staying up til half past three just to write this. It was worth it for me. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

Silver's Shoe: The circular mark underneath the detective's shoe was made when it stepped on the front of Sonic's Attorney's Badge. It shows that the badge was not fully drenched in blood sometime during the scuffle in the office.

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the party earlier in the evening. It was found underneath Silver's desk and drenched in blood. However, Silver's Shoe proved that it was not bloodied on both sides at some point during the murder.

Knife: The weapon that was used in the murder of Ms. Rose. The evidence found at the scene suggests that it was used on the woman twice; It was also probably used on the fight against Silver since the blade was found underneath the door rather than on her body. Sonic's fingerprints are on the wooden handle due to a rookie mistake on his part when he first discovered the scene.

White Fragment: A small white piece found underneath Silver's desk. It is smooth with rough and jagged edges, almost as if it were broken off of some kind of clay figure. It is unclear as to where it originally came from.

Silver's Assault Report: The detective was beaten into unconsciousness due to heavy blows, although the marks on his fists show that he did fight back. Besides the bruises from said punches, there are no other wounds present on his body and the blood on his fur is most likely from Ms. Rose's wounds. He's expected to wake up in a couple of hours, but Vector, the detective who doesn't have much doctor skills, isn't completely sure.

Ms. Rose's Autopsy Report: She was murdered between midnight and one in the morning on 5/7. The cause of death was from two stab wounds, the first one suspected to be the abdomen and the second close to her heart. As such, she's suspected to have survived the first attack. Death was immediate on the second blow.

Bloody Hand Print: A print formed by blood that was found on one of the racks on the currently empty bookshelf. It's suspected to belong to Ms. Rose since she was the only two in the room to have lost blood. When compared to the distance from where it was found to where her body was, it's reasonable to believe that she was alive and moved around a bit before being killed.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He was considered to be the prime suspect by Espio, but has since been downgraded to person of interest with the help of his little brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He helped his older brother escape grave suspicion under Espio's eyes.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He paid attention to the exchange between Tails and Espio regarding Sonic's innocence and sides with the two's side of events. He plans to take over the initial investigation.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old senior detective who worked hard for his current position. He was found in his office severely beaten up with bruises all over him. It is currently unclear as to who it was that caused his extensive injuries.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She was a running candidate for her district's senatorial race and a former Special Forces member in the army. She was found stabbed to death in Silver's office. It is unclear as to who it was that murdered her.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it and considers himself to be an eyewitness to the whole ordeal.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog prosecutor who studied abroad to earn his Prosecutor's Badge. His office is located on the upper floors of the local Precinct. As such, he just happened upon the scene while making his way up to his office. He is currently accusing Knuckles of misconduct on his part and requesting he forfeit his control on the investigation and subject himself to an internal conduct investigation.

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><p><strong>Chapter 12: Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt. 6<strong>

"Alright, let's hurry up and get back to what we were doing before we were forced to take a break," Tails stated as he made his way back to the bookshelf that had previously been occupied by an officer taking pictures of the area. "We've already wasted half an hour waiting for them to finish preserving the scene."

"Not to mention that we had to protect Knuckles against a claim of doing something illegal in terms of his work," Sonic added in an undertone as he made sure to not make eye contact with Shadow who was, as he stated earlier, standing in a corner and keeping an eye on the three. "I didn't think that he would've tried to pull a fast one like that on us. Can't he tell that we're trying to solve a murder here?"

"Well, you can't really blame him for doing his job, Sonic," Knuckles stated as he looked over towards the ebon furred hedgehog and shot him a quick apologetic glance. "He was only doing what he thought was right at the time. Would you rather that he got in trouble for not trying to report what he felt was wrong on my part?"

"Still, he could've at least not acted so serious like he was going to put you in jail or something like that," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he allowed a sigh to audibly escape his lips. The prosecutor simply shook his head at this gesture. "He's already done that once before, and I rather that he didn't try it again with you."

"Sonic, could you just forget about it already?" the two tailed fox stated more than asked as he began to move some of the books away into a neater pile. "How about you help me move these books so we can see what's underneath them? That's what we were doing earlier before the officer told us he wanted to take some photographs."

"…Remind me again on why we figured that poking around this pile of boring-looking books would be a good idea," the attorney said with a sigh as he crouched down along with the detective and began helping to move the books.

"First of all, some of these happen to be files on cases that past detectives have worked on," the echidna quickly corrected before he began to summarize their reasoning for digging through the pile. "They're like the Holy Grail for us detectives and prosecutors whenever we want to review something from the past. That and we can sometimes find those miraculous connections and case breakers to current cases."

"And some of them can't afford to be destroyed because they're the only one of its kind," Shadow added as he stayed in the corner with his arms crossed and back leaning against the wall. "I really don't want to have to drag your sorry behind to the detention center because I saw you purposefully destroying treasured police documents."

"Alright, there's no need for you to start threatening me with jail time, Shadow. I think you've already done enough of that for one night."

Secondly, we figured that when Ms. Rose was first stabbed by her murderer, she was most likely somewhere around here," Knuckles continued on with a sigh as if the mini exchange did not take place. "It's because of the Bloody hand Print we found on one of the shelves that we even considered the possibility. With that in mind, we found it strange that the books themselves weren't covered in blood. This meant that they were most likely knocked to the ground _after_ the first attack. We were about to move them before remembering that the officers hadn't had a chance to preserve the scene through their photographs."

"And we're now moving them away with the hope that we can find some new evidence buried under all this now that he's done," Sonic finished as he finally got the drift of what they were trying to do. "I remember now. Let's just hope that we don't end up having to suffer through any more strong distractions."

"Now that you remember what we're doing, please make sure that you stack them up in a neat pile instead of just throwing them to the side, Sonic," the fox stated as he picked up a couple of the thick files that the hedgehog had thrown to the side without a second thought. "Don't forget that we still might need to examine the room some more. We don't want to accidentally mess things up or anything like that."

"That and most of these files hold some significant importance," the detective added as he raised an eyebrow at the hedgehog just as he was about to throw another book off to the side. This along with the ever watchful eyes of the ebon furred hedgehog had him change his mind and stack it neatly on the pile with a roll of his eyes. "Some of these haven't even been solved yet and stuck in cold case mode. Also, there's that one case that the four of us were involved in somewhere in here just waiting to be solved."

"Don't tell me you've been sneaking in here whenever you had the chance just to look up on it," the blue furred hedgehog stated as he absent-mindedly started to skim through another file he had picked up. This caused the other two to simply roll their eyes and let out an annoyed sigh at his inattentiveness to their current activities.

"I assure you; I've only been in here ever since Silver got promoted to senior detective and moved into this office a couple of days ago. Because the two of us are good friends, he allowed me to come in and take a look at the files regarding the LK-9 incident. That's the case we were involved in over two years ago."

For a couple of moments, the three of them were silent; Tails and Knuckles continued to move the files away from their intended viewing space while Sonic simply stared out into nothingness with a file still in his hands. He also noticed out of the very corners of his eyes that the prosecutor also had a sort of far off look to his eyes as if he were trying to remember something. However, this quickly disappeared as he shook his head a bit and continued to keep watch over the three at the bookshelf.

"…Hey," the cobalt hedgehog suddenly spoke up as he paid attention to the file in his hands and took note of the title on the front. "It looks like this particular file has some details on the case we were just talking about. Looks like it might be interesting to read about. You mind if I took a look at it, Shadow?"

"So this is where that other file was at," the ebon furred hedgehog said to himself as he once again had that distant look to his eyes. He then said with the gaze staying with him, "Just make sure you hand it off to me when you're done reading it. I've been looking for all the files on the LK-9 incident for a while. I can't believe that whoever took care of these things actually saw it fit to break it up into little pieces and send them everywhere. Just what the heck is this disorganized district thinking these days?"

With nothing more than a raised eyebrow at the prosecutor's quiet mumbling, the defense attorney cracked open the file and turned towards the section concerning the LK-9 incident. However, when he had made it to the designated session, he was shocked at what he had found. Rather, it was the lack of what he found. The entire section dedicated to the case was removed from the file and nowhere to be seen!

"Uh, we kind of have a little problem here Shadow. The entire section that has the LK-9 Files in it is gone! They're nowhere in this thing."

"You got to be kidding me!" the prosecutor exclaimed while Tails and Knuckles looked up at the two hedgehogs and momentarily stopped what they were doing. "Those files couldn't possibly be missing from there. Did you check that entire file to see if it was just misplaced or something like that?"

"Did you just say those files are missing?" Knuckles asked as he caught wind of the two's discussion. "But that's impossible. I came in here just this afternoon to take a look at them, and those files were most definitely still in there."

"Did you just say that there's a missing case file?" Tails asked as he stopped what he was doing and looked over at what the other three were looking at. "But how could it be missing? You just said you saw it this afternoon. It couldn't be missing after such a short amount of time between then and now. Who could possibly have any reason to want to steal these files? Wait a minute; what if the person who attacked Silver and Ms. Rose went and stole the files after taking care of them both?"

"If that's the case, then that would mean our murderer has some kind of connection with that case and doesn't want any of us to get any further with it," the echidna concluded with a sigh as he shook his head. "I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to catch wind that Silver and I were planning a collaborative effort with that case."

"At least this discovery is giving us a new clue to work with," Shadow mused as he took the file out of Sonic's hands and quickly skimmed through it before putting it down on the table. "Only the people who have clear access to both you and Silver would've had a chance to know you were planning to take on the LK-9 case. At this point, I'm comfortable in saying that we might be dealing with an inside job here. Somebody who works here must've wanted to steal those files before you two got anywhere with it."

For a few moments, the other three were busy thinking about what the ebon furred hedgehog had just suggested. None of them could deny the possibility that what he said was true nor were they able to come up with another plausible scenario.

"…I don't think us thinking about it will get us anywhere right now," the two tailed fox spoke up after their small moment of contemplative silence. "Let's just get back to moving these files and see what's hiding underneath it. It's really the only thing we can do that could possibly give us some kind of answers."

"You're right, Tails," the detective agreed as they both went back to the pile of files and continued with their previous mission of cleaning it up. "We'll figure more about the missing LK-9 Files later. Let's just concentrate on seeing what's underneath here."

At about the same time they went back to their original reason for being here, Vector walked back into the room without the accompaniment of the two officers he had been talking to the whole time. The crocodile was busy tugging lightly at the gold chain hanging on his neck in an absentminded fashion as he had a sort of thoughtful look to his face. He soon stopped this action as he found himself next to Silver's unconscious form and knelt down to further examine him and the surrounding area.

"Hey buddy, your cop friends told me to tell you that they wanted to see you outside," the crocodile prosecutor announced without looking up to the photographer officer that was still taking pictures of other areas he felt was necessary to preserve. He then said before placing his headphones over his ears, "They said to make it snappy."

"Got it, sir!" the officer responded as he stopped what he was doing and immediately made his way out of the office and talk to his fellow officers.

"I swear; those stupid cops were just trying to find some excuse to keep me out of this place or something like that," the croc stated in an annoyed undertone to himself once he saw the officer out of the office. "They just kept talking my ear off on these cases they're working on when I don't even have any info on them. Don't they know that I have a right to be here since I'm a registered private detective and all that working with Knuckles?"

Knowing that he was just talking to himself, none of the four others in the room chose to answer or even pay attention to his rhetorical question. That and they figured that he would not be able to hear it since he had his ears plugged and listening to whatever kind of music he had blasting out of them. Clearly not noticing them ignoring him, the private detective continued on with his examination of the area around Silver.

"Hey, I'm starting to see some blood on the floor here!" Tails suddenly exclaimed as he finally saw the floor underneath the pile of files and saw said stain. "Something definitely took place around this area."

"I'm seeing some blood on my end, too," Knuckles responded as he stacked up the rest of the files on his end and went to help the two-tailed fox. "In a few more seconds, we'll be able to see if there's anything new to discover under all this mess."

"Alright, now we'll be able to get this investigation rolling again!" Sonic exclaimed excitedly as he threw his hands up in the air and accidentally let the file he was holding fly away and straight towards Shadow.

"I thought I warned you to be careful with the files, Sonic!" Shadow sharply chastised the cobalt blue hedgehog as he thankfully caught the flying object before it struck him. "You almost just killed me with one!"

The ebon furred hedgehog's verbal punishment fell on death ears, however. The attorney only became more excited when the mess was finally cleared and the floor underneath it was revealed for all to see. As expected, there was a Pool of Blood hidden underneath the pile of fallen files, although there was not so much that one would expect from a person who had just gotten killed. There was also a pair of shoe prints clear in the center of the pool; these clearly belonged to the person who lost all that blood.

"Looks like our hunch was right here," the red furred echidna responded as he examined the area closely. "Ms. Rose was first stabbed around here before being killed in front of the desk where we found her. She must've held her hand around the entry point of the wound as a natural reaction, hence the Bloody Hand Print on the shelf. She then probably pulled the Knife out of her in an attempt to use it as a weapon against her attacker, hence the rather large amount of blood here."

"If you think the blood we found here is interesting, then just take a look at what I discovered," the two-tailed fox said as he pointed to what appeared to be a print of some sort right next to the shelf. It was so close to the blood pool that it was almost completely obscured by it. "I actually found a stray Shoe Print here! We're so lucky to have found it since it's so close to the pool of blood."

"A stray Shoe Print?" both Sonic and Shadow asked simultaneously as they walked over to where the fox was pointing at. Then the prosecutor said with great intrigue lacing his voice, "I can't believe that you two actually found something like that in here. It isn't every day that you get such a lucky break in a case."

"But it's interesting in how that's the only one of its kind," the cobalt hedgehog stated thoughtfully as he began to look around the general area and behind the desk once more to see if there were any more prints. "You would expect that there would probably be more than just this one around here."

"Maybe the murderer failed to notice he had made the print before he knew his shoe had blood on it," Tails suggested as he clearly also found it weird. "That might be because by the time he had noticed his shoe, these files were already on the floor and keeping him from finding this print he had made."

"Let's hurry up and see if this belongs to either Silver or Ms. Rose," the detective suggested quickly as he burned the marks into his mind and began looking at the soles of them. It was almost as if he failed to hear Tails' explanation. After spending a quick couple seconds with the action, and earning a strange look from Vector at his space being suddenly invaded, he came back and shook his head. "Nope, it doesn't belong to either of them."

"And just for idle curiosity, can I see the bottom of your shoe, Sonic?" Shadow asked as he also memorized the pattern of the print. "Last I remember, you were being accused of these gruesome acts. These prints clearly belong to the murderer. If it doesn't match with your shoes, then I don't see any better way to clear your name."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Sonic agreed as he quickly sat on the floor, being careful not to sit on the blood, and lifted his shoes up for the ebon furred hedgehog to see. "Now I'm finally out of the woods here baby! Hurry up and check away so I can finally start living my life without having to be accused of some stupid murder I never did."

"…Well, this proves that you weren't the one to have murdered her," the prosecutor concluded after spending a couple of seconds comparing. "Now that we finally got that cleared up, we have another question to answer: just who was it that came in here and made that Shoe Print with Ms. Rose's blood?"

"Unfortunately, that print could belong to anybody," Vector suddenly spoke up, startling the four at his sudden entrance into the conversation. "Anyone could easily pick up a Knife and stab her to death with it."

"I see you're done examining Silver's unconscious form, Vector," Knuckles stated as he had a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. "Did you manage to figure out anything new that we could use to our advantage?"

"It isn't much, but I did manage to find something that looks like a Scale resting on his gloved hand," the detective/prosecutor said as he showed them what was in his hand. It was small and could not be distinguished color-wise because of it. "Remember when I said that the detective fought back a bit before being knocked out? I'm thinking that this belongs to whoever attacked him and murdered the woman."

"Sounds like we're starting to get more leads by the minute," the red furred echidna said as he carefully took the Scale and placed it into the folds of a napkin he found lying around and most likely coming from the party earlier that evening. "Now if only we could get all these things connected somehow and get some kind of answer here. That would really be a case breaker for us right now.

"Anyway, you're wrong in when you said earlier that anybody could've had a chance to murder the senatorial candidate," he continued on as he placed the napkin carefully into his glove and changed the subject back to what they were previously talking about. "Don't forget that she happened to be well versed in hand-to-hand combat and had knife skills that were unmatched by her fellow military friends. It says so in that Newspaper Article published yesterday. I would suspect that someone with great close-combat skills close to or above her proficiency level was the one who killed her. It's the only thing that makes sense when you take into consideration the senatorial candidate's military background."

"Knuckles' is right on that," Tails agreed as he started to shuffle the idea around in his mind. "Even if the murderer managed to take her by surprise the first time around, I don't think she would've been able to be stabbed a second time, especially with Silver still in the room with her. Military people are generally tough, and I doubt she would've forgotten about her previous training just because she was in a life-and-death situation."

"Hmm, it's clear then that the murderer was better at martial arts skills than her and could take on both of them at the same time," Sonic surmised as he looked thoughtful and allowed his eyes to wander around. He then added more to himself in an attempt to get all the stray thoughts into their correct order, "But who in the entire city of Mobius could possibly house that much skill in them to actually pull off something like this?"

Suddenly, his eyes rested on a framed photo resting on the desk. Most likely because of all the chaos that had ensued ever since he came back to the office, he had failed to notice it entirely. However, as his eyes began to scan the people expressed in the photo, Detective Silver posing with the Chaotix Detective Agency group, an idea suddenly sprouted into his head. As a result, he let out a sharp gasp as he felt it was both the most improbable yet only logical answer he could possibly come up with.

"What is it, Sonic?" the yellow furred fox asked as he and the others turned to look at the attorney upon hearing his sharp intake of air. "Did you get an idea on what happened here or something like that?"

"Uh, I-I… Not really, no!" the cobalt hedgehog stuttered out as he tried to keep a calm demeanor and failing his attempt miserably. "I-I mean, I…have more of a…a theory than anything else! It isn't really that good for thinking purposes."

"Then what's your theory?" Vector asked with raised eyebrows at the other's strange behavior. "It must be quite amazing if you're actually acting like this. Maybe you managed to figure out who's the real murderer. Anything that any of us can possibly come up with is going to be better than nothing."

"Or maybe he's just trying to grasp at straws like he usually does in the courtroom," Shadow stated as he could not help but to let a yawn leave his mouth. He then said as he stole a glance at the clock on the wall, "It's already almost four in the morning. He's got only four hours or until he crashes to solve this case before the police decides to make a big stink out of everything."

"Oh, if only that were the real reason," the attorney whined out under his breath so that the others would not hear him.

"Sonic, could you please just get on with it and tell us what your theory is?" the red furred detective asked as he rolled his eyes and was quickly getting impatient with how the attorney was acting all weird and seemingly dodging their questions for no good reason. "You beating around the bush like this isn't something that you normally do. That and we're running out of time here."

"Oh fine, I'll tell you. I doubt you guys are really going to like it. My theory on who could've done all this tonight is…is…"

For a couple of moments, everybody in the room stood silent with their eyes on Sonic as they waited for him to say what was on his mind. When they received nothing except for a blank stare, Shadow quickly got annoyed and slammed his fist on the desk. This quickly drew all of the attention towards him.

"Gosh darn it, Sonic; if you don't have a theory to go spewing out to us, then don't go about keeping us here and wasting our time!" the ebon furred hedgehog angrily exclaimed as he growled out in frustration. "Some of us would like to call it a day since we obviously can't go any further than this on this case."

"…Espio," Sonic whispered so softly that almost all of them did not catch it. "I…think that with all the things we found in this office, Espio was the one who murdered Ms. Rose and assaulted Silver before taking the LK-9 Files."

"Y-you say who did what?" Vector exclaimed loudly, so loud that the officers that were still talking outside poked their heads in to see what was going on. Shadow, while also shocked at this exclamation, was composed enough to see that they were concerned and waved them off in motion that everything was alright with them. With raised eyebrows, their heads disappeared from the corner and they were alone once more. However, this was something the cobalt hedgehog did not want since this meant that he would have to suffer the eyes that were currently burning holes right through him because of his accusation.

"You're not being serious here, are you?" Knuckles asked with eyes slightly bugged out in amazement as he rolled around what he had just heard in his head. "You're not talking about the same Espio that I sometimes work with on the field, are you?"

"With everything that we have, it's really only a theory at this point," Tails said in a remarkably calm voice as he thought back to the things they have discovered during their investigation. "And with no disrespect to you Sonic, it sounds like a pretty weak one since there isn't any evidence even pointing him to this."

"I know that it's a wild thing for me to claim, but I don't see any other possibility," the cobalt hedgehog explained with a shake of his head. "While the evidence doesn't really have any substantiality against him, you have to admit that his behavior when he first saw me in here was strange. He's supposed to be a detective. As such, he knows that he can't be making claims and accusations as weak as the ones he came up with against me. He didn't even do a clear investigation of the area before he went down my throat."

"Still, it sounds like you got nothing more than your own 'theory' to go along with you," the crocodile said as he nervously fiddled with his gold chain. "The evidence is too scattered right now to even hold up in a proper court proceeding."

"…I suppose I could indulge you on your little idea, Sonic," the ebon furred hedgehog stated as he crossed his arms and looked thoughtful. "However, you're going to have to find another way to approach your idea. If you feel that what you say is true, then how do you propose to go about proving it?"

"…There's only one way we could possibly get the answers that we need right now," the attorney admitted as he started to feel nervous with all four pairs of eyes in the room on him like he were some kind of freak. "We'll have to ask Espio ourselves and figure out just what he was doing around the time Silver and Ms. Rose were attacked."

"I figured you would say that," the prosecutor said without any surprise in his voice. "Vector, go ahead and bring Espio in here. I last heard that he was waiting in the cafeteria in case he needed to be called on to talk about this. Knuckles, I want you to take the evidence gathered here and examine them with the things that the officers brought with them. The police won't stop you since I'll tell them that I gave you permission to do so. Now hurry up and get going you two!"

Before anybody had a chance to act on the commands of the ebon furred hedgehog, they suddenly heard a groan coming from somewhere in the room. Instinctively, they all turned to where Silver was and saw him actually starting to snap out of his unconsciousness and trying to bring himself to a seated position.

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

LK-9 Files: Documents about a case that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow were involved in over two years ago. For some reason, they are missing from their original placements. It's believed that the person who attacked Silver and murdered Ms. Rose stole the files.

Pool of Blood: Blood found hidden underneath the mess of files. There are a pair of shoe prints situated close to the bookshelf. They are from Ms. Rose and prove that she was still on her feet despite being stabbed. She must have pulled the Knife out of her body for that amount of blood to be present.

Shoe Print: A single print left by a shoe. It belongs to neither of the victims, and it proves that Sonic had nothing to do with the incident since it doesn't match with his shoes. This means that it could only belong to the murderer. It's also clear that the murderer cleaned the bottom of his shoe since there's only a single print. It's believed that the murderer failed to notice he made the print because of the files already covering it.

Scale: Found by Prosecutor/Detective Vector when he spent great time examining Silver's unconscious body and the area around him. He found it on one of his gloved hands and surmised it came from the murderer when the two were fighting. Because of it's small size, the color is unreadable.


	13. Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 7

Hello everybody! Here's a little warning to you all before I start talking here. This is the longest chapter that I have written for this story to date. There's a reason for this, though. This particular chapter is based solely on trying to convince a certain someone that another certain somebody is the only one who could've murdered Ms. Rose and assaulted Silver in his office. As such, this is a long and detailed chapter. It's also the reason why this has taken me a long time to get out here because of the information overload.

Anyway, that's all I have to say on this note today. Hope that you all enjoy this as much as I had creating it! Don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading this chapter, and that's considering if you all survive the minefield of details. Until the next update to any of my stories everybody!

And just as a little side note, please don't go talking to me about how this chapter could have been separated into two. I had thought about it at a certain point, but then the second one would be not only short but also considered to be redundant in that it still serves the same purpose as this chapter. That's why I chose to keep this as one long chapter. Anyway, happy reading everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

Silver's Shoe: The circular mark underneath the detective's shoe was made when it stepped on the front of Sonic's Attorney's Badge. It shows that the badge was not fully drenched in blood sometime during the scuffle in the office.

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the party earlier in the evening. It was found underneath Silver's desk and drenched in blood. However, Silver's Shoe proved that it was not bloodied on both sides at some point during the murder.

Knife: The weapon that was used in the murder of Ms. Rose. The evidence found at the scene suggests that it was used on the woman twice; It was also probably used on the fight against Silver since the blade was found underneath the door rather than on her body. Sonic's fingerprints are on the wooden handle due to a rookie mistake on his part when he first discovered the scene.

White Fragment: A small white piece found underneath Silver's desk. It is smooth with rough and jagged edges, almost as if it were broken off of some kind of clay figure. It is unclear as to where it originally came from.

Silver's Assault Report: The detective was beaten into unconsciousness due to heavy blows, although the marks on his fists show that he did fight back. Besides the bruises from said punches, there are no other wounds present on his body and the blood on his fur is most likely from Ms. Rose's wounds. He's expected to wake up in a couple of hours, but Vector, the detective who doesn't have much doctor skills, isn't completely sure.

Ms. Rose's Autopsy Report: She was murdered between midnight and one in the morning on 5/7. The cause of death was from two stab wounds, the first one suspected to be the abdomen and the second close to her heart. As such, she's suspected to have survived the first attack. Death was immediate on the second blow.

Bloody Hand Print: A print formed by blood that was found on one of the racks on the currently empty bookshelf. It's suspected to belong to Ms. Rose since she was the only two in the room to have lost blood. When compared to the distance from where it was found to where her body was, it's reasonable to believe that she was alive and moved around a bit before being killed.

LK-9 Files: Documents about a case that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow were involved in over two years ago. For some reason, they are missing from their original placements. It's believed that the person who attacked Silver and murdered Ms. Rose stole the files.

Pool of Blood: Blood found hidden underneath the mess of files. There are a pair of shoe prints situated close to the bookshelf. They are from Ms. Rose and prove that she was still on her feet despite being stabbed. She must have pulled the Knife out of her body for that amount of blood to be present.

Shoe Print: A single print left by a shoe. It belongs to neither of the victims, and it proves that Sonic had nothing to do with the incident since it doesn't match with his shoes. This means that it could only belong to the murderer. It's also clear that the murderer cleaned the bottom of his shoe since there's only a single print. It's believed that the murderer failed to notice he made the print because of the files already covering it.

Scale: Found by Prosecutor/Detective Vector when he spent great time examining Silver's unconscious body and the area around him. He found it on one of his gloved hands and surmised it came from the murderer when the two were fighting. Because of it's small size, the color is unreadable.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He was considered to be the prime suspect by Espio, but has since been downgraded to person of interest with the help of his little brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He helped his older brother escape grave suspicion under Espio's eyes.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He paid attention to the exchange between Tails and Espio regarding Sonic's innocence and sides with the two's side of events. He plans to take over the initial investigation.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old senior detective who worked hard for his current position. He was found in his office severely beaten up with bruises all over him. It is currently unclear as to who it was that caused his extensive injuries.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She was a running candidate for her district's senatorial race and a former Special Forces member in the army. She was found stabbed to death in Silver's office. It is unclear as to who it was that murdered her.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it and considers himself to be an eyewitness to the whole ordeal.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog prosecutor who studied abroad to earn his Prosecutor's Badge. His office is located on the upper floors of the local Precinct. As such, he just happened upon the scene while making his way up to his office. He is currently accusing Knuckles of misconduct on his part and requesting he forfeit his control on the investigation and subject himself to an internal conduct investigation.

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><p><strong>Chapter 13: Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt. 7<strong>

"Silver!" Knuckles exclaimed as he rushed over to the silver hedgehog's side and gingerly helped him to lean his back against the wall. "It's about time that you woke up! You don't know how worried you had us all when we found you like this."

"…Damn, I got the…worst headache of my life here…," Silver murmured in a somewhat confused tone as he brought one of his hands to the back of his head. "I never felt this sore…in my whole life. What happened here?"

"You were assaulted sometime during your meeting with Ms. Rose," Sonic explained as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Apparently, the assailant managed to make their way in here and get at you two before running out with a case file; the LK-9 Files."

"Th…those files?" the detective mumbled in a fashion that could have been considered as drunken banter if the others had not known what had happened to him. "I think I…remember someone around my bookshelf…looking for something."

"Do you remember who it was that was in here, Silver?" Tails asked as he leaned against a clean portion of the detective's desk and began to let the cogs in his head turn. "If you can even give us a description of what they looked like, then we'll be able to know who attacked you and killed…"

"I'm afraid that's out of the question, Tails," Shadow quickly butted in before he had a chance to say who had been killed. Just as the fox was about to complain about being cut off, he gave him a look that said all too clearly to not say anything about it in front of the recently revived detective. This caused the other to shut up with understanding reflecting in his eyes. "The detective just woke up from a potential coma not even two minutes ago. He needs to be transported to a hospital as soon as possible. That and he might not be able to supply you with the answers you seek. He might be suffering from the effects of a concussion and not remember the things leading up to his current condition."

"But he still might be able to provide us with a concrete answer before our time's up," the two tailed fox argued. "As you said, we got less than four hours to get things straightened out before this Precinct gets landed in hot water for an unexplainable incident. So unless you want this process to be dragged on by the typical police rules and give the chance for the real culprit, whom we've already named as a plausible fit for the title, let me ask Silver about what he saw. Even if he can't remember the exact moments, he might still be able to tell us something that we can then use to piece with other things that we know."

"Tails is right here, Shadow," the cobalt hedgehog agreed with his little brother with a nod of his head. "All I really gave us to go on was a theory that even I admit is too farfetched to be taken seriously without any serious evidence to back it. I doubt that we'll be able to dig up anything more with more investigating, and we can't go about dragging in my suspect without more evidence. This could be our last chance at gaining any kind of information whatsoever that can prove me right or wrong."

"But Sonic, I can't help but to agree with Shadow in that Silver needs to be in a hospital getting medical treatment right now," the echidna countered as he crossed his arms and tried to stifle a tired yawn. "The last thing he needs right now is to be questioned by us about what happened in here. If we force him to think back on something that he just can't remember, we might end up causing him more pain from the effort itself. Is that chance at pain really worth whatever kind of information that we can't even guarantee would help us in the long run? If you had evidence really helped to support your crazy theory, then I might be a bit less skeptical about this. However, you have nothing, and I really have to suggest against you and Tails' crazy idea of trying to get answers out of him."

"Just so we're clear on this, I'm not going to give my opinion on this matter," Vector, who had been quiet for a bit ever since the silver furred detective awakened, stated as he made his way towards the empty bookshelf as if he wanted to clarify something. He then continued after a few seconds and now making his way towards the door, "I don't want to be putting more complications on an already delicate matter. And besides, I'm afraid that I have something important that requires my immediate attention. And don't even think about calling me on my cell unless there's something real important. It'll be real unpleasant experience for you if you get on my bad side, so don't even think about testing it."

"B-but where are you going, Vector?" Tails asked with raised eyebrows at the crocodile's statement at needing to leave them so suddenly. "We might still need your help in case we need to get something clarified. That and you're probably the only one who could shed any kind of light to Sonic's accusation. And you're really the only one who has any kind of idea how Silver is medically holding up."

"I'm sorry, but this is something that I really need to take care of before it's too late," the crocodile prosecutor stated as he was just about to exit the office and stopped short from the doorway. "If everything goes well, then I should be done before your time for tonight is up. I'll be back soon, so try to keep the party going for as long as you can. I really want to see how you guys manage to wrap things up."

"Hold on just a second, Vector!" Shadow quickly exclaimed with a step forward before the other had a chance to even move one foot out into the hallway still occupied by the three officers. "Do you think you could tell us the current condition Silver is in? You're the only one out of all of us suited to answer such a question even with your minimal medical background. You should at least let us know that much before you leave so we'll know how we should be proceeding with our investigation."

"…It's because of that minimal amount of medical knowledge that I don't feel confident in providing you with any kind of answer," he said after taking a moment to think about the answer with what he knew. "However, the fact that he woke up less than even half a day after being found unconscious definitely means that his head injury isn't as serious as I had thought. As such…, I guess that it's okay for you guys to ask him questions _without_ pushing him too hard on every little detail. The moment he starts complaining about any kind of head pain, though, stop the questioning immediately!" he quickly added in a stern tone so as to show that he was not kidding around with what he was saying. "If he feels like he wants to go to sleep, let him do so. I may not have good medical expertise, but I know enough to say that he won't die if he gets knocked out again. Now if none of you have any more questions, let me go and do what I have to do so I can get back before this case is closed."

"There's no guarantee that the case will be closed by eight, my friend," the ebon furred hedgehog said as the crocodile simply waved it off before turning the corner and disappearing into the hallway with only the sound of his footsteps proving he was still there. That soon faded from existence as they were heard descending down the stairs and away from earshot. The hedgehog then turned his complete attention to the other three other than the officers and Silver in the room. "Now that I've heard his opinion, let me go ahead and tell you mine. Since Vector just said that Silver's good to be questioned provided that certain conditions are kept in mind, I will allow for any of you to be asking him questions about the moments leading up to his unconsciousness. Just remember that I'll be watching you, and I will stop it if things become too stressful for him or if he looks like he's ready to slip back into unconsciousness. Is that a fair enough procedure for you?"

For a couple of seconds, the two tailed fox thought about what Vector had said and Shadow's proposal. Altogether, it sounded more than fair, but Knuckles clearly did not agree with it. He had a hard scowl plastered onto his face and crossed his arms in a stubborn fashion. Sonic, on the other hand, was more than happy at this opportunity that they would be able to have a chance at figuring out the real culprit. That and he wanted to get out of the radar as person of interest in the case. After all, that was second worst to being full-on accused of murder, and he did not want to be anywhere near that boat.

"…As long as I get a chance to ask Silver some questions about what happened here, then it's alright with me," Tails finally responded with a resolute nod of his head. His older brother simply had a smile that appeared on his face and was quickly growing. "That's all that I've been asking to do since we got onto this topic."

"Then go ahead and ask to your heart's content," the prosecutor stated as he stole a glance at Silver and saw that he was still conscious, although he looked somewhat lost in his own little world. "Just remember not to be too rough or pushy for details. This is one of those times where you're probably not going to get what you want to hear."

"Thanks, Shadow; that's all I wanted to hear," the fox said as he walked up next to the fallen detective sat down next to him while being careful not to mess up the scene around them both. The echidna, on the other hand, chose to lean against the wall, an indication that he did not want to take any part in the questioning. It was obvious that he still felt this was going to prove more harmful than helpful in the long run. "Silver, do you mind telling us a few things regarding the moments before you were attacked?"

"B-but I can barely remember anything about it," the silver furred hedgehog responded with the repeated breaks in his sentences now gone. "I think I'm suffering from a concussion or something. My mind's feeling kind of foggy."

"That's okay; even the smallest thing that you can remember might prove to be helpful. It all depends on whether it has anything to do with the attack. Just don't push yourself too hard just for the sake of trying to provide us with answers."

_**Argument: Events Leading up to the Attack  
><strong>_

Well, I remember staying behind in my office after we ended the party. I was talking to…to somebody about…something important. I don't know why, but I feel kind of annoyed when I think about the person. I'm not sure, but I think that somebody knocked on the door just as we were finishing up our meeting. I remember opening it to see who it was, but that's when things start to get a bit fuzzy.

_**End Argument**_

"And that's all that you're able to remember?" Tails asked as he tried to keep himself from sounding disappointment at the weak and relatively uninformative piece of testimony. Then again, he had figured that things might have turned out like this, so he knew he was getting his hopes up on hearing anything strong and concrete.

"Sorry I can't be of more help to you guys," Silver responded quietly with a small groan as he pushed himself further up against the wall in order to make himself more comfortable. "Like I said, my thoughts on what happened just before and during the time I was attacked are real fuzzy. I just can't get all the facts together."

"Well, that really ended up giving us a lot of help," Sonic stated sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as his shoulders slumped a bit at the dejecting testimony. He then added in an equally sarcastic tone, "That really was a whole bunch of new and helpful information he just gave us. We probably only got to figure out half of what Silver ended up doing after we all left, and that half sounds shoddy at best! There's hardly anything new in there that seems even remotely worth poking through for anything!"

"I told you two that asking him questions was to be nothing but a complete waste of time," Knuckles reminded them with an annoyed huff of his breath, never once leaving his position against the wall and his arms still in their crossed formation. "All we determined was that he was here in his office when somebody went knocking at his door during his private meeting. There's nothing important in there to ask about."

"Not unless we try and dig a bit deeper into those seemingly meaningless statements," the two tailed fox countered as he lightly bit his tongue in thought. "If we take the time to take apart what he said and reassemble it to our liking, then we're bound to figure out something new. Just give me a couple of minutes to work on this."

"Just don't forget to practice some restraint when you're questioning the detective, Tails," Shadow reminded in a tone laced with warning as he also had a thoughtful look on his face. "If he's your only lead to new information, then it wouldn't do to cause him pain and clam up involuntarily."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"I'm sorry for asking this Silver, but do you think you can remember who it was you were talking to?" Tails asked despite knowing full well who it was. He just wanted to gauge just how bad the silver furred hedgehog's memory really was.

"Uh, I think…it was a woman," Silver as he tried to think back to before he was attacked. "I can't help shaking the feeling that she has some kind of importance to our city right now, but I can't explain it. Sorry that I don't have a name for you right now."

"Well, at least this shows me that your memory's not as bad as I had thought," the two tailed fox responded with a short nod of his head in understanding. "Besides the name, you managed to remember the bare basics of who you were meeting with. And can you remember just what it is that you were talking to her about?"

"I think that's something that's supposed to be between me and her," the detective answered as he twisted his face in thought. "B-but if you think it's important, I'll try to remember. I know that it's something that I've been working on for almost a year and that she's been bugging me about the details."

"You were working on the LK-9 incident for a year," Knuckles stated as he helped to straighten out the other detective's jumbled and fuzzy thoughts. "Ever since I've been with the force, you agreed to let me help you out since I was directly involved with it. …Ms. Rose has been pestering both you and me about the details for a while now."

"Ms. Rose… That kind of sounds familiar…, …Wait a minute; isn't she the senatorial candidate that I was supposed to be meeting with tonight?"

"I see that you remembered something," Shadow suddenly stated after being quiet for a while. As he had promised, he had been watching from a distance and making sure that things did not take a turn for the worse. "I don't know the full details of what you were meeting with her tonight for, but she was a senatorial candidate for our district."

"Did you happen to be looking at some files during your meeting with her?" Sonic asked as he remembered the missing LK-9 Files.

"Yes…, yes I was!" Silver exclaimed as it seemed his recollection of what happened was starting to slowly come back to him. "I took a file off the bookshelf that held the documents concerning the LK-9 incident. After we were done, I put it back on the shelf. That was right before…before someone knocked on the door…, I think."

"Well, that is the only way for the person who attacked you could've gotten in here," Tails stated as he tried to find more spots to dig for more information. "And speaking of which, do you have any idea who it was that ended up knocking on the door? That's who I think was the one who ended up beating you into unconsciousness."

"…Sorry, but I just can't remember," the silver furred hedgehog said after taking a couple of seconds to think on it.

"Don't forget to go easy on the detective," Sonic reminded his little brother in a soft tone as he remembered the warning the prosecutor had gave them before starting. "He's not in the greatest of forms to be undergoing this right now."

"I just thought I'd give it a try," the two tailed fox responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Apparently, getting any kind of info that might have a chance at supplementing the cobalt furred hedgehog's wild claim of Espio being the one who committed the crime tonight was going to be harder than he first thought. "It's better than trying to stab in the dark by asking something not even related to what we're talking about."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"Why don't you stop before you make yourself look bad, Tails?" Shadow suggested with a small sigh. "I like it that you're trying, but you never figured out anything new here. All you managed to do was jog Silver's memory a bit."

"Well, at least that's a step in the right direction for him," Tails countered with a snort of his breath. "If I can't get any real answers from him, then the next best thing I can do is to try and refresh his memory. Maybe then he'll be able to remember something and tell us something that'll help us break this case open."

"Look, don't you think you're torturing Silver enough with this stupid questioning session?" Knuckles asked as a small growl emanated from the back of his throat. "He obviously can't remember anything. Isn't it better if we tried to look for more answers in a different way that doesn't involve him?"

"Well, if you know of something that he haven't tried out yet, then we're all ears Knucklehead," Sonic countered, the other giving him a hard stare at the nickname and not saying anything. "…I thought as much. Since you don't have another suggestion, we'll just continue on with this until we get an answer or he becomes exhausted."

"Ms Rose…," Silver suddenly said in a sort of far-off voice as if he were trying to recall a distant memory. "…She's dead, isn't she? You guys haven't said much about her ever since I woke up, and I don't see her around anywhere."

"…We figured that it was best you didn't know until after you've made a full recovery," the ebon furred hedgehog stated after a moment's pause from everyone in the room. Without knowing it, they had all somehow managed to block the view of the senatorial candidate's body from their position in the room around the poor detective. "We didn't want to overwhelm you with the fact of her death."

"…I don't know why, but I don't feel all that surprised at hearing she's now dead," the silver furred hedgehog admitted with a thoughtful glint in his eyes. It was almost as if he were expecting that kind of an answer without asking to look at the woman's body for the sake of confirmation. "In fact, it's almost as if I'm starting to remember something now that you've helped me confirm my suspicions."

"It sounds like we're slowly undoing the damage from the concussion you have," the two tailed fox responded with a smile on his face at the progression they were making. Knuckles looked on in slight disbelief that what he thought was going to be a waste of time was slowly turning into something that was potentially informative. Sonic, on the other hand, simply gave off a smug smile at the chance of proving the echidna wrong in his assumption. Shadow remained rather indifferent to how the scene was unfolding, but he did cross his arms rather loosely as if bracing himself for what was to come next. "Is it okay if I asked you what it is that you think you're remembering?"

"Ha, I think I know how it feels like now for potential criminals in court being asked so many questions because the things we already found out just don't add up," the weak detective chuckled lightly with a small smile reflecting his agreement at making another statement. "Talk about having the tables suddenly being turned on you."

_**Argument: The Moment of the Attack  
><strong>_

Someone _did_ come into my office just before my meeting was over. I checked who it was and let them in. I think it was only a couple of minutes before he started attacking us. It must've happened pretty fast, because I don't remember seeing Ms. Rose get hurt. I think she was hanging around the bookshelf after the attack, but I'm not too sure. I was busy trying to subdue him so I could get other detectives up here for an arrest. We struggled against each other for a bit before I was knocked around so bad that I began to black out.

_**End Argument**_

"Well, that was a lot of things that you ended up remembering there, Silver," Shadow said with a raised eyebrow after the Silver was done recounting what he could remember about the incident that happened in his office. He had since taken the liberty of leaning his body against the wall with his arms still loosely crossed. "I guess it was for the best that we ended up telling you the truth about Ms. Rose."

"That must've been the catalyst being that the majority of what happened tonight most likely revolved around her," Tails stated as he figured that it was the heart of the matter. "That's the only thing that makes sense. I still can't believe he managed to remember that much about the moment of the attack and murder."

"Well, he always was pretty diligent when it came to investigating and had a knack for remembering the small things that others tend to not take note of," Knuckles added with a shrug of his shoulders. "He even helped me get my case notes in order when I was asked to attend an information meeting suddenly."

"Yeah, he sure did sound like an organized type of guy when he questioned us about that LK-9 incident," Sonic stated with a half-grin at the memory. "I don't know about now, but he was always writing something down in the notepad he was carrying. Talk about being a rookie trying to impress their boss."

"Could you guys please not talk about me as if I weren't here?" Silver asked, clearly getting annoyed at how they were taking about him in third person. "I'm still here hearing everything you're saying about me. I swear; you make it sound like I'm in the hospital or already dead in the morgue."

"Sorry," the two tailed fox apologized with an equally apologetic smile appearing on his lips. "We didn't mean to make it sound like you were somewhere else. Let me just go ahead then and ask you some more questions."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"Do you remember what time it was when this person came knocking at your door, Silver?" Tails asked in hopes of being able to establish a concrete time for when this whole problem occurred. "Maybe we'll have a better chance at figuring this out if we could get just a rough estimate."

"I'm sorry, but I can't remember that," Silver apologized as he did not even try to think about it. "I don't really make it a habit to look at the clock when I have a meeting. It makes the time drag on, and I don't like to have boring things feel like they're taking longer than usual. I only remember the knocking that I heard from the door."

"I remember that we left the party a little before half past eleven," Sonic stated as he thought back to when he and the fox left. "We came back about forty-five minutes later to get my Attorney's Badge. Silver and Ms. Rose were already taken care of when we got here, but that still doesn't give us anything new to work with."

"But we do have the Autopsy Report that I wrote up when I had a chance to examine her body," Knuckles corrected as he recalled the notes he made about her body. "I estimated her time of death to have been between midnight and one in the morning. You said that you both came back around a quarter past twelve. That would mean that the murderer came in sometime between midnight and the time you two arrived back here."

"Assuming that your report is correct, that would mean that we should really only be concentrating on the fifteen minutes between midnight and when Sonic and I came back," the two tailed fox surmised as he furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "That means we'll most likely have to be collecting alibis from certain people for those moments if we want to see if Sonic's claim is right."

"We can worry about that after we're done with this, Tails," the cobalt hedgehog simply responded with a small wave of his hand in dismissal. "We don't know how long Silver is going to last here before he starts to ignore us again. We need to get all the information we can get from him before that happens."

"I guess you're right about that, Sonic," the other responded with a shrug and sigh at his big brother's choice of words. "Silver, you said that you don't remember seeing the moment Ms. Rose was stabbed the first time. Did you, however, hear some kind scream of pain or something like that at the time?"

"Uh, I kind of remember hearing a kind of grunt of pain that sounded like it belonged to a woman," the silver furred hedgehog said as he thought back to that particular moment. "I was by my file cabinet at the time and accidentally shoved it closed when I heard the noise. I then turned around and saw her being shoved into the bookshelf. I don't remember much after that except that I rushed towards the attacker in hope that I could subdue him for the other detectives to arrest him."

"So you knew she was at least attacked in some way," Shadow stated in a tone that could have been almost mistaken as questioning. "As such, you were trying to do your duty as an officer of the law and arrest the assaulter. Are you completely sure that your attacker and her murderer was a man? Also, do you remember seeing any kind of weapon in the person's hand while you were fighting?"

"I'm more than sure on that the person who entered my office with the intent to cause harm was a man," the detective stated with such sureness that nobody could possibly argue with him on the fact. "Unfortunately, all that I can remember was us exchanging one blow after another with each other. I think it would be safe to say then that he didn't have any kind of weapon on him, or he would've used it to make faster work against me. However, I don't think that any of my punches ever met his body," he added as he thought deeper into his scuffle. "He blocked and dodged every single hit I threw at him."

"Then this person must've had some great martial arts skills along with some quick movements to have been able to land a strike on the woman," the ebon furred hedgehog said more to himself in a contemplative manner. "That's the only thing that makes sense with what we already learned. How interesting…"

"And what else do you remember while you were fighting?" Tails asked. "Was there something off during the fight?"

"I'm sorry, but my mind was already starting to black out after a couple of minutes into our struggle. I remember being pushed to where I am now. I do remember, though, that he stopped momentarily as he was approaching me. That was when I heard something fall to the ground. I only saw it for less than a second, but I think it had a sort of bronze coloring to it before it rolled away towards where Ms. Rose was still at."

"That must've been my Attorney's Badge that she threw at him!" the defense attorney exclaimed as he tried to piece the two together. "She must've thrown it at the attacker in hopes of distracting him away from you. She probably grabbed it from the table where I probably left it. And when it rolled back towards her, it must've stopped in the Pool of Blood that was then collecting around her."

"Then why is it that we didn't see any kind of round marking in the area where she was stabbed?" the echidna asked with a raised eyebrow. "We took a good look at the area, and we didn't find anything like that."

"Well, she was still alive at the time, so the blood could've easily just covered that part of the floor after it was kicked under the desk where I found it," the other explained as if that were the only answer. And in truth, that was the only reasonable answer that anybody could come up with for that particular moment in time.

"And it was probably around that time when she took the Knife out of her to try and take a stab at her murderer," the two tailed fox concluded. "She obviously failed at that attempt and was instead stabbed a second time."

"If I remember correctly, though, there is an unexplainable round mark underneath Silver's Shoe," the prosecutor asked as he tried to raise some loose ends that have yet to be closed. He clearly did not want any future accusations to start flying around when there were unexplainable questions still lingering within the recesses of his sharp mind. "How do you go about explaining that?"

"Silver, what did you do while your attacker was distracted from you?" the fox asked without answering the other's question. "Can you remember the things that you saw around you or managed to do then?"

"Naturally, I took the time to hit him from behind," the detective answered as he brought a hand up to his head. It was clear that this was starting to take its toll on him, and he was not going to last much longer. "I remember startling him so much that he sort of fell over sideways. That was when I saw his head hitting the edge of the table. I heard it happen, but I don't remember seeing any kind of mark on his head that would've indicate he had been struck there. And I don't know how, but we somehow ended up switching positions, me being where Ms. Rose was earlier and him where I was."

"I guess then that she was already fatally stabbed the second time and lying at the front of your desk when you threw that surprise attack," Knuckles stated as he tried to organize all the new facts that they managed to obtain. He also lost the skeptical feeling he had about asking the recently conscious detective about his own assault ordeal. "And you most likely stepped in the Pool of Blood that still had Sonic's Attorney's Badge in it, thus creating that strange round mark on the bottom of your shoe."

"And somewhere during round two of the struggle, my badge got kicked under the table, and you somehow ended back here where you then became unconscious," Sonic added on to what he believed to have been the events that took place in here with the testimony and evidence they have collected during the course of the long night.

"And even though the attacker then had the knife in his hands when he killed Ms. Rose, he must've lost it when you surprise-attacked him and didn't know that it was lying under the door even as he made his escape," Tails finished off as he saw loose end after another being quickly closed. "Being that he couldn't waste any time looking for it or another deadly weapon without running the risk of getting caught, he settled on trying to give you a concussion with fist blows in hope that you would forget about the incident should you survive and end up recounting the scene to the police."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"Humph, it looks like this question and answer session wasn't as wasteful on time as I had first thought," Shadow responded as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "You managed to close up a few holes and inconsistencies. But there's still one thing you've failed to establish even with all these closed holes. In fact, you haven't got an answer for the real reason you embarked on this line of questioning."

"Wh-what do you mean, Shadow?" Tails asked with genuine confusion trailing behind his words. "We got a whole bunch of things to help us, as you said, close up a few holes. What is this real reason that we didn't get an answer to?"

"Well, you originally embarked on this once tedious line of thought under the guise that you would be able to both identify what had happened here tonight in the office and who the culprit responsible for all this chaos was," the ebon furred hedgehog reminded as he stood up straight and uncrossed his arms. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but you've already tried asking him a few times if he could give any telltale signs on who his attacker was. All you managed to figure out was that it was a man. That's hardly a basis for reaching the grounds for indicting someone, wouldn't you say?"

"I hate to admit it, but he's right on this, Tails," Sonic admitted with a childish pout appearing on his face. "We managed to get a good idea on what happened in here, but that doesn't help us much in the long run. What we really wanted to know was if my assumption had anything to back it up. We didn't really find anything like that."

"But you do have to admit that we found quite a few things that kind of danced around with the idea," Knuckles added with a shrug just as he saw Silver's eyes starting to close. "And even if we thought Silver could possibly remember the person through description if not by name and wanted to ask him again, it's too late for that. He's out like a light."

"And that just makes things a bit harder for us," the cobalt hedgehog grumbled as he moved over towards the back of the desk area and rested his back against the wall. "Talk about trying to prove our point here taking a turn towards impossible lane."

"Remembered what we agreed upon earlier," the prosecutor quickly reminded the other. "Should Detective Silver fall unconscious again at any time, we are to not disturb him again. It's a sign that we've strained him enough for the evening. I'm afraid that all you have to fall back on now is what you remember him telling you."

"He deserves the rest after all the strain we put him through in trying to remember what happened a few hours ago," the fox stated with a small nod of his head as he looked at the once again unconscious Silver. He then added with a sigh, "Even though he didn't give us anything concrete as to who the one responsible for all this was, he still gave us details that we could try and piece together to make a relatively educated guess. Would that satisfy your need in us requiring both a relevant and plausible reason as to why Sonic felt claimed earlier that Espio would be the main suspect in all this?"

_**Argument: Prove That Espio is a Suspect  
><strong>_

I have to say that this is still the most farfetched idea I've ever heard of. As far as I'm concerned, Espio is a proud and well-known freelance detective in this Precinct who works for an equally well-known private detective agency. And as I've said numerous times before, you have yet to convince me to think otherwise of him. Of course, you're right now offering to provide me a reason to think so with the badly fragmented pieces of truth we've just learned from Detective Silver. I'll tell you what; if you can adequately convince me that Sonic's earlier claim has the power to turn into a plausible reality, then I'll bring Espio in here myself. Otherwise, I'll be calling for an end to your investigation of this scene due to the lack of any further developments.

_**End Argument**_

"So that's the challenge that you're putting me up on, huh?" Tails asked as he seemed to give Shadow's words a bit of thought. "You sure are a hard person to convince on anything, you know that, Shadow? …Alright then, I'll go ahead and take you on. I believe that Sonic's right in his claim, and the only way for me to convince you of it is to prove it to you through our broken pieces of information."

"Well, you've already proven to me that your mind is as sharp as it possibly could be tonight," Shadow responded with a smirk and a small snort of his breath. It was clear even with that slightly rude gesture that he was complimenting the other in having such a genius mind. "I wonder, though, if your power over logic can handle finding a truth through a sadly crafted claim that Sonic had allowed to come out from his thoughts. I suppose the only way to know is to press on. Let's not waste any more time then. It's almost five, and the police should be arriving in three more hours. I'm sure that it'll be in everybody's best interest if we could get more factual answers before then."

"Boy, this is going to be real interesting," Knuckles whispered under his breath as he walked over to where Sonic was still standing on the other side of the table. "I wonder how Tails is going to convince Shadow of this one. I know he's good with piecing together facts, but everything we got seems scattered at best. That and you actually went ahead and accused a freelance detective well known in this Precinct of assault and murder. Of course the guy's being completely skeptical about the whole thing."

"Didn't I ever tell you before that Tails actually stood up against a top ranking college student who specialized in public speaking and debate?" Sonic questioned in an attempt to reassure the other that the fox could handle it. "I don't remember what they were talking about, but he managed to get a good chunk of the audience backing him when he was through. The point here is that I know he can handle this. All we can do here is shut up and listen since I doubt you and I have been keeping track of everything that we've learn up in our heads and constantly working on them."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"Let me start off by admitting right off the bat that I have nothing definitive or concrete that says Espio was the one responsible for all this," Tails began with his explanation as both Sonic and Knuckles quieted down and stood watching the exchange begin. "However, I can still show that it was more likely than not that the freelance detective could've been the one to have committed this crime as Sonic had suggested earlier. All we have to do is gather the fragments of information and piece them together into a coherent fact."

"While coherent facts are all well and good, it's the end results of said facts that will be contributing the most to what you want me to believe," Shadow reminded the two tailed fox with a raise of his eyebrows as he set his face into a serious expression. "Could you explain to me just how it is that these fragments allow you to come to this near unbelievable conclusion that the freelance detective is the one responsible for all this?"

"Well, how about we start off with the details of the meeting Silver and Ms. Rose planned to have in here," the fox stated more than suggested. "First off, the fact that they were even having a meeting was supposed to be known by only the two of them. However, since we were all still at the party at the time, we just happened to overhear that they were meeting tonight. Nobody else in this Precinct should have had no knowledge of that. Wouldn't you say that would be a fair statement?"

"I have heard that she sometimes preferred to have private meetings with certain individuals from time to time," the ebon furred hedgehog responded as he thought about the possibility. "And being that she's a senatorial candidate for this district, she kind of has the right to come and go as she pleases and conduct private meetings without any of the others knowing of it. And since you were all here in the party when she made that announcement with the exclusion of me, I suppose Espio would fit under that sole pretense."

"But I'm sure that that's not going to be enough to convince you. As such, there are other things that when put together, they end up placing suspicion on him. When Sonic and I first came back here, we discovered all this. A few minutes later, he was caught on his own in here by none other than Espio. At the time, I thought nothing of it and that he was simply doing his job. Over time, however, I started to find it odd that a great freelance detective like himself would actually jump to conclusions without first adequately surveying the scene for anything that would back up his claim.

"Nevertheless, I managed to prove him wrong in that Sonic had anything to do with this murder," the fox added with a small triumphant smirk. "After I proved him wrong, he simply left the scene and said that he'd be waiting in the Precinct cafeteria if we had any more questions for him. It was almost as if he didn't want to examine the crime scene."

"I suppose that would explain why I haven't seen him all night since I've heard of him being the first to make any kind of accusation in the case," the prosecutor responded thoughtfully with raised eyebrows. "Just because he's decided to hang around in the cafeteria, though, doesn't mean that he should already be made suspect in this crime. You're going to need more than just those two flimsy facts to convince me that he has anything to do with this."

"Geez, how much more convincing do you need in order to start believing that Espio is the only one with the strong possibility of committing this crime?" Sonic asked with an exasperated sigh escaping his lips. "You'd have to be a really stupid guy to not even start considering it, Shadow. And I know you're anything but stupid."

"I'm just trying to make sure that I hear nothing but things that could be construed into a plausible and explainable truth. I don't want you all to go accusing someone who has nothing to do with any of this at this point in time."

"Then how about we go ahead and start concentrating on the things that Silver said to us a few minutes ago?" Knuckles suggested as he tried to sound nonchalant about the entire situation. "Tails has only been stating things that we knew before we questioned him. Piecing things together from what we just found out might manage to convince you, and even me in this case, that Sonic's claim was even remotely right to begin with."

"Nice to know that you never believed me about this, Knuckles," the cobalt hedgehog responded sarcastically with a pout. "Remind me to never again tell you my theories if you're just going to throw them out the window."

"Anyway, I think I'll take up that suggestion and start concentrating more on what Silver said to us," Tails said with a small clearing of his throat. "It seems that's the best place to pick up the pieces. However, let me go on about the matter of time here in when Ms. Rose was killed. As we have discussed earlier, we've come to a conclusion that she was most likely killed between midnight and a quarter after."

"That's something that I'm not going to dispute," Shadow said without any hesitation. "I can also guess where you're going with this. You want anybody who knew about the meeting to give out their testimony as to what they were doing for those fifteen minutes so as to establish their alibis. Am I right on that?"

"That's pretty much it in a nutshell," the two tailed fox replied with a nod of his head. "And while we're on the subject, why don't we ask each other just what it was we were doing at that time?"

"Well, there's no need to be asking me about that," the defense attorney quickly said. "We were busy in the cab on our way back here. Thank god this particular cab company allowed for money to be transferred to them through wireless means. I used my phone to transfer the fare from my account to the cab company. I'm sure you'll see a record of it that should say I altered my account a few minutes after midnight. That's both my and Tails' alibi since he was riding with me."

"And I also happen to know the driver's name if you want further clarification for formality purposes," the fox added as he loosely crossed his arms. "I happened to get a good look at his cab driver identification card during our ride. Anyway, now it's your turn, Knuckles. What we're you doing around here in those fifteen minutes?"

"I was busy down at the second floor processing some files regarding on some of the cases that I was working on and finished," the echidna explained without any hesitation. "I had to go through the file storage room in order to process them correctly. There just so happens to be a camera situated right by the entrance. That and there's a card reader that allows only those who work in the Precinct and carrying their I.D. cards to enter. Just check the records on those things, and I'm sure that you'll see my name on it just before midnight. And if you check the camera, it'll show that I spent about ten or so minutes in there," he quickly added before anybody could question him about the duration of his stay. "I then went to the fourth floor so as to talk to Prosecutor Vector before leaving for home. And just for the record, he was on the phone talking to the second floor data clerk about some kind of mess-up with his computer. It was about ten after midnight, and he managed an appointment for two in the afternoon tomorrow. You can check it up with them for that."

"And I suppose that you're the good prosecutor's alibi since he's currently not here to testify on his own," the prosecutor stated with no signs of disbelief in his tone. "I'll look into that once we're done with all this. And just for the record, where was it that you ran into Tails when he was looking for help?"

"I had just left the fourth floor hallway and was about to go down the stairwell," the detective continued on to explain. "I heard frantic footsteps above me and turned around to see him running. He was frantic and asking me to quickly follow him. Vector had poked his head out of his office a couple seconds later to see what all the commotion was about."

"So now you have everybody in here with alibis that can be proven and shows we're not the ones responsible for this," the fox stated once he heard the finishing remarks of the red furred detective. "Sonic and I were busy in the cab and have both the payment transaction and name of the driver to prove it. Knuckles was busy in the file storage room with both the camera and the data from a card reader to prove it. And Vector was seen by Knuckles five minutes before we came back to Silver's office and saw him already on the phone finishing up making an appointment with the Precinct's data clerk. And don't even get me started with Charmy here. He might've been at the party, but it's definitely close to impossible for him to have done this due to his age, size, and rather hyper attitude. That in itself is an alibi for him."

"And the only person you have yet to collect any kind of information suitable for an alibi is Espio himself," Shadow finished off as he clearly sensed where this was all leading up to. "And just for the record, I was busy in a private meeting with the High Prosecutor until half past midnight. I know I wasn't at the party, but I figured the establishment of my alibi was appropriate so I could avoid being accused."

"As if any of us were planning to do that anytime soon," Sonic stated with an irritated look at the teasingly weak accusation. "And we already figured that you didn't have anything to do with this. You didn't even know that there was going to be a meeting between Ms. Rose and Silver in the first place."

"Anyway, you've managed to put three things against the freelance detective in this," the ebon furred hedgehog continued on as he began to sound less defensive against the accusation. "One is that he didn't even bother to try and examine the scene before making his accusation; the second is that he was one of the few people who happened to know the senatorial candidate was having a private meeting because he was at Silver's promotional party; and the third being that he's the only one without any kind of solid alibi. It is starting to form the basis of a sound accusation, but it still sounds too scattered for consideration. If you could find something else that has greater substance than these claims, then maybe I'll change my mind."

"You really are a tough person to please, you know that?" Knuckles said with a small sigh. "It's not that I'm trying to disagree with you or anything like that, but couldn't you try to be less of a stickler on details?"

"Forget it, Knuckles; Shadow's right on this," Tails admitted in a tone that was anything but the sound of him giving up. "My reasons for validating Sonic's accusation are still flimsy at best. There has to be a more substantial form of information for even a court to consider such a strong claim."

"I'm glad that you're starting to see things my way, but the tone in your voice tells me you still have some fight in you," the prosecutor stated with his face showing his amusement at this little game of logic. "What else can you come up with that you feel would make me bring Espio up here for questioning?"

"If you think back on Silver's Testimony for a bit, he said something about the moment Ms. Rose was first stabbed. He said that he didn't hear anything out of her save a grunt of pain," the two tailed fox reminded the other of what Silver had told them. "She was stabbed with a Knife. I can't help but to feel something wrong with that picture."

"And just what is it that you feel doesn't fit right with you?"

_**End Rebuttal**_

"Well, if you just remember the details of the Newspaper Article from yesterday's paper that talks a bit about the senatorial candidate, I'm sure you'll see exactly where I'm going here," Tails simply said, not bothering to even show the article since he knew everybody in the room knew of its contents. "It says in there that she was more than proficient in knife combat. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but doesn't knife combat also include fighting an opponent with a knife even if you're unarmed?"

"It isn't technically considered to be a part of that definition, but it does have strong ties to it," Shadow admitted, his tone clearly showing he knew where this was going. "And you're saying that since she was stabbed in the front, there's no reason why she shouldn't have been able to at least block the strike."

"And you admitted to us at some point that the one responsible for this crime must have been well versed in the way of martial arts and weapons handling to have outdone her," the two tailed fox reminded the other. "And I remember Vector telling me and Sonic about how he owned his own dojo and specialized in the ninja arts. They're known for using weapons in combat whenever applicable."

"And being that he's the only one out of all of us who has that kind of skill and no set alibi for those fifteen minutes, he's the only one who could be considered a prime suspect," Sonic finished the explanation while in awe at how his little brother managed to make his previously crazy claim into a plausible scenario. "It would only make sense then why he wanted to pin the crime on me without any kind of investigation of his own. He knew that was guilty and was planning to steer us away from the scent by throwing me into the mix since I was the first person he saw when he came back!"

"Wow, talk about cooking up a quick last-minute plan on the fly like that," Knuckles stated with a low whistle. "Considering that the entire ordeal took probably less than five minutes and that he wasn't sure if or when someone would come stumbling in while he was still doing the deed. Ten or so minutes to think up of even a weak plan that could possibly steer us down the wrong path isn't an easy feat even for seasoned criminals."

"That sounds like a rather strong strike against Espio there," the ebon furred hedgehog admitted as he closed his eyes momentarily in thought. After a few seconds, he opened them and said, "When you use that as the binder to put together the other things that you've proven, I'd say that you have the means to go accusing the freelance detective of this. And as per my end of the agreement, I'll go ahead and get him from the cafeteria provided that he's still waiting there after all this time."

"It's about time that you're letting us confront the guy!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed with an over-exaggerated sigh and an equally dramatic throwing of his hands above his head. "We finally passed your stupid torture test!"

"And Knuckles," the prosecutor continued on while completely ignoring the other. "Do you mind sending the Scale and White Fragment to the Forensics lab on the third floor? Those pieces still hold secrets that we can't access without any forensic data. They just might be the key to figuring out just what happened here tonight."

"Consider it done, Shadow!" the echidna stated as he quickly nodded his head once in compliance. At the same time, the prosecutor turned around and walked out of the office in preparation to bring Espio up to the office for some well needed questioning. The detective then turned to Sonic and said, "Well, it looks like I have something to do here. I won't be here listening to what's going to happen."

"Just make sure you get these things figured out before we nail the guy to the wall or run out of gas trying," the attorney stated with a serious stare as he handed the two aforementioned items to the detective. "And do go losing them. I'll kill you if that happens."

"You just worry in making sure that you didn't make a stupid accusation and accused the wrong person for murder and assault," the other stated as he also began to walk towards the doorway. "I still can't believe the Espio was the one who did this, but Tails did provide good enough reasons to place him under suspicion. Just make sure you end up pegging the right guy for this when it comes around to it."

"I don't ever go around saying things without any basis behind it," Tails reassured the echidna just as he left the office and on his way to the third floor. He then added in an undertone so that Sonic could not hear, "I just hope all this time hasn't given Espio a chance to come up with plausible excuses for what he was doing just after midnight. That'll really kill us here. I guess all we can do is wait and see."

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Silver's Testimony: Testimony recorded from the detective before he went unconscious for a second time. While everything that he said has been pieced together logically, there is still one fact that is unclear. He said something about his attacker hitting his head hard on the desk when he surprise-attacked him during the assailant's moment of distraction. However, he saw no signs of bruising on his head that would indicate the damage.

**Lost Evidence:**

White Fragment: A small white piece found underneath Silver's desk. It is smooth with rough and jagged edges, almost as if it were broken off of some kind of clay figure. It is unclear as to where it originally came from.

Scale: Found by Prosecutor/Detective Vector when he spent great time examining Silver's unconscious body and the area around him. He found it on one of his gloved hands and surmised it came from the murderer when the two were fighting. Because of it's small size, the color is unreadable.


	14. Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt 8

Hello everybody! Sorry for taking a while to update this story. The details combined with having to study my butt off for classes really made it hard to get this written down on here. It wasn't easy, but I finally got the last part of this case down. Actually, I managed to get the first half out. To be perfectly honest, I felt that it was starting to drag on without having a chapter break somewhere in the middle. Besides, I also felt that it could be separated into two different events. I'll explain what I mean at the end of this chapter.

Anyway, I hope that you'll all enjoy this chapter. I'll tell you, I did not enjoy creating this particular one because I've practically dug myself into a hole that's hard to climb out the moment I first started this case. At least I'm almost done with it. I just need to figure out how to end it properly. Don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading. Until the next update everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Newspaper Article: A clipping talking about Ms. Kuro Rose, a woman running for the position of senator in her district. It talks about how she served her country in the military's Special Forces team before being forced out because of a battle injury rendering her incapable of conducting anything overly stressful or strenuous. She promises to try and reduce the crime rate in her represented district if elected.

Silver's Shoe: The circular mark underneath the detective's shoe was made when it stepped on the front of Sonic's Attorney's Badge. It shows that the badge was not fully drenched in blood sometime during the scuffle in the office.

Attorney's Badge: Sonic lost it during the party earlier in the evening. It was found underneath Silver's desk and drenched in blood. However, Silver's Shoe proved that it was not bloodied on both sides at some point during the murder.

Knife: The weapon that was used in the murder of Ms. Rose. The evidence found at the scene suggests that it was used on the woman twice; It was also probably used on the fight against Silver since the blade was found underneath the door rather than on her body. Sonic's fingerprints are on the wooden handle due to a rookie mistake on his part when he first discovered the scene.

Silver's Assault Report: The detective was beaten into unconsciousness due to heavy blows, although the marks on his fists show that he did fight back. Besides the bruises from said punches, there are no other wounds present on his body and the blood on his fur is most likely from Ms. Rose's wounds. He's expected to wake up in a couple of hours, but Vector, the detective who doesn't have much doctor skills, isn't completely sure.

Ms. Rose's Autopsy Report: She was murdered between midnight and one in the morning on 5/7. The cause of death was from two stab wounds, the first one suspected to be the abdomen and the second close to her heart. As such, she's suspected to have survived the first attack. Death was immediate on the second blow.

Bloody Hand Print: A print formed by blood that was found on one of the racks on the currently empty bookshelf. It's suspected to belong to Ms. Rose since she was the only two in the room to have lost blood. When compared to the distance from where it was found to where her body was, it's reasonable to believe that she was alive and moved around a bit before being killed.

LK-9 Files: Documents about a case that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow were involved in over two years ago. For some reason, they are missing from their original placements. It's believed that the person who attacked Silver and murdered Ms. Rose stole the files.

Pool of Blood: Blood found hidden underneath the mess of files. There are a pair of shoe prints situated close to the bookshelf. They are from Ms. Rose and prove that she was still on her feet despite being stabbed. She must have pulled the Knife out of her body for that amount of blood to be present.

Shoe Print: A single print left by a shoe. It belongs to neither of the victims, and it proves that Sonic had nothing to do with the incident since it doesn't match with his shoes. This means that it could only belong to the murderer. It's also clear that the murderer cleaned the bottom of his shoe since there's only a single print. It's believed that the murderer failed to notice he made the print because of the files already covering it.

Silver's Testimony: Testimony recorded from the detective before he went unconscious for a second time. While everything that he said has been pieced together logically, there is still one fact that is unclear. He said something about his attacker hitting his head hard on the desk when he surprise-attacked him during the assailant's moment of distraction. However, he saw no signs of bruising on his head that would indicate the damage.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He and Tails were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office, one dead and the other unconscious. He was considered to be the prime suspect by Espio, but has since been downgraded to person of interest with the help of his little brother.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. He and Sonic were the first to discover Kuro Rose and Silver in his office. He helped his older brother escape grave suspicion under Espio's eyes.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails. He paid attention to the exchange between Tails and Espio regarding Sonic's innocence and sides with the two's side of events. He plans to take over the initial investigation.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen year old senior detective who worked hard for his current position. He was found in his office severely beaten up with bruises all over him. It is currently unclear as to who it was that caused his extensive injuries.

Kuro Rose: A woman of Japanese decent who speaks very fluent English. She was a running candidate for her district's senatorial race and a former Special Forces member in the army. She was found stabbed to death in Silver's office. It is unclear as to who it was that murdered her.

Espio: He's a purple chameleon with a white horn on his forehead. He's skilled in Japanese ninja arts and has his own dojo for teaching others said techniques. He was the first to appear on the scene after Sonic and Tails discovered it and considers himself to be an eyewitness to the whole ordeal.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-year-old crocodile prosecutor. He loves the gold chain necklace that rests against his neck along with listening to music through his headset, including during his time in the courtroom. He can sometimes be a bit rash in making decisions and has a sort of stubborn side, but he always strives for the truth within the heart of any matter.

Charmy Bee: A hyper little bee who's attitude sometimes surpasses his eight-year-old body. He works alongside Prosecutor Vector as a sort of small rag-tag group of detectives that work apart from the local precinct detectives.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three year old defense attorney of some renown. He owns his own law firm, albeit a small business version, and hired Sonic to be his understudy. He's usually too busy working on some kind of case to be seen in the office much. He allows Tails to hang out in the office regardless if he does any work in there or not. He's currently out of town on business and entrusted the upkeep of the office to Sonic and Tails.

Shadow Hedgehog: A seventeen-year-old hedgehog prosecutor who studied abroad to earn his Prosecutor's Badge. His office is located on the upper floors of the local Precinct. As such, he just happened upon the scene while making his way up to his office. He is currently accusing Knuckles of misconduct on his part and requesting he forfeit his control on the investigation and subject himself to an internal conduct investigation.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14: Dangerous Twists and Turns Pt. 8<strong>

For some strange reason, Shadow was gone for over a half an hour when he had first announced that he was going to go to the ground floor and bring Espio up to Silver's office. Sonic and Tails had naturally expected Knuckles to take longer than that since he was most likely going to be busy trying to perform some forensics work on two of their unexplainable pieces of evidence they had found earlier that evening. This did, however, give both of them a chance to collect their thoughts and gain some well-deserved rest. After all, they have been up for the entire night trying to get this whole ordeal straightened out before the police came, and they were ready to be knocked out anytime soon were it not for the adrenaline running through them supplied by the seriousness of the situation.

"I still can't believe that Shadow forced you to win over his trust before he did anything," Sonic murmured under his breath as he paced around the room for a bit and clearly becoming restless. "This isn't a courtroom. Some of the rules don't apply here. That and we're supposed to be his friends! When did he get such an untrusting mind?"

"He's only doing his job, Sonic," Tails spoke up as he continued to sit on the sofa that he had been occupying for the past fifteen minutes. "You're still a rookie, so you don't have as much practice with all this like him. He probably wanted to err on the side of caution and make sure that we had all our facts straight before following up on your accusation. You do have to admit that it was pretty sudden when you first made it."

"But he still could've given you some leeway in that you were his friend and not the type to just go around saying whatever it is you want for the hell of it," the cobalt hedgehog countered as he continued to pace back and forth. "Either the lack of sleep is starting to get to him, or he's trying to take his job too seriously."

The two tailed fox simply shook his head at his older brother's stubborn attitude at the situation. He knew that continuing to talk about it was just like adding fuel to a raging fire; it was not going to die unless one of them dropped the topic. And that was exactly what he did. He sat quietly without saying another word, and the other continued to pace around without saying anything else. The silence was shattered a couple minutes later when the sound of footsteps out in the hallway reached their ears.

"Sorry to have kept you two waiting," Shadow's voice suddenly. His body was then seen entering the room a second later. "I got a bit tied up with something of dire importance while I was making my way to the cafeteria. It was something that I couldn't afford to ignore. Needless to say, that's why it took me a while."

"That's why you took so long? I was starting to think that you were just trying to play some kind of sick twisted joke on us," the defense attorney stated sarcastically as he suddenly stopped pacing around and quickly leaned against the wall next to the couch with his arms crossed. "Do you think you can tell us what was so important that you needed to make us wait for god knows how long?"

"Sorry, but that's confidential," the ebon furred hedgehog simply replied as he brushed the matter aside with a small wave of his hand. "And besides, why bother me with something that's trivial to your point of view when I've already brought to you the person that you've been so dying to question for a while now?"

In the next second, Espio calmly walked into the office with a rather stoic look on his face. Amazingly, his body language did not seem to reflect any signs that he was anywhere near tired despite it being the time that the sun was about to rise. It was almost as if he had been taking a nap on one of the tables in the cafeteria. Either that or he was busy pumping himself with a bunch of caffeine to prepare himself for something like this.

"I was told by Shadow here that you wanted to ask me a couple of questions, Tails," the purple chameleon calmly asked as he immediately made a beeline for a wall that was relatively void of any potential evidence and leaned against it. He then continued on as he crossed his arms, "As I said earlier this evening, you could ask me anything that you felt you didn't cover when I first accused Sonic of this crime."

"If that's the case, then let me go ahead and catch you up on what we've managed to figure out here," Tails responded in an equally calm tone as he stood onto his feet, making sure not to give away his suspicions to the other through his voice. Even though he sounded calm, he could feel the tension within the room rise to astronomic levels the moment the chameleon entered the office. With all that they have managed to figure out and piece together tonight, he was clearly convinced that he was right now staring within the eyes of their true murderer. "When you last left us, you left with the thought that Sonic was a prime suspect in this case. That is what you've been thinking about all this time, right?"

"And it has been in my mind ever since," the freelance detective responded with a huff of his breath. He then asked in a cool tone that did not reflect that of a cornered culprit, "Am I to believe that you've managed to discover something within these past five or so hours that contradicts my belief? I see no other reason why you would call me up here only to ask me a question you surely remember my answer to."

"I see you're the kind of guy who doesn't like to beat around the bush when something that contradicts your thoughts is presented before you," the two tailed fox stated with a huff of his breath as he crossed his arms in a form of defiance. "To make a long story short then, I did figure out a few interesting facts that seem to point Sonic away from being even a prime suspect and instead point the finger to another person."

"Well, that does sound like a rather interesting turn of events. Do you mind telling me just who it is that you've discovered to be the supposed main suspect in this case if not Sonic? As the first detective on scene here, I think I have the right to know any new developments that arise so that I might be able to provide accurate testimony to the courts."

"Before we go so far as concern ourselves with court proceedings, do you mind if you told us about the crime scene as you saw it again? It's mainly just for clarification purposes on my end. And it'll be easier to explain to you what we found at the same time without having the restrictions that a courtroom sometimes puts on our questions."

"Oh, I never said anything about rushing these delicate proceedings. If you feel it necessary, I'll tell you again my thoughts on what happened here."

"And just to make sure that things don't get out of hand here, I'll be mediating this discussion," Shadow spoke up as he took a seat on the sofa and crossed his arms. "I don't want you to go pressuring him into answering something he doesn't want to indulge or anything like that. Of course, I'm sure you know the rules after our last battle of wits, do you?"

"You can be a real pain in the butt, you know that?" Sonic grumbled with a roll of his eyes as he refused to move from his leaning position. "Since when have you known Tails to be going around doing whatever it is he can do to get information out of someone? He's not one of those torturing inquisitor guys from the sixteenth century, you know?"

"Everything still needs to be dealt with some semblance of order even if it's outside of a courtroom, Sonic," the ebon furred hedgehog simply answered. "Laws were created for the purpose of keeping a harmonic balance within both nature and mankind. And it's my job as much as it's yours to see that they are followed accordingly. You really have to start taking these things more seriously if you plan to keep your job."

"I never asked for your philosophical crap, Shadow," the cobalt hedgehog snapped back without bothering to keep his attitude in check. It was clear that his lack of sleep combined with the annoying rules that the other continued to enforce was making him more irritable than usual and borderline uncooperative. He at least took solace in knowing that this was soon coming to an end now that Espio was in front of them and about to undergo some rather intense questioning by none other than Tails himself.

_**Argument: Discovering the Murder  
><strong>_

When I had first arrived back on this floor, I was planning on visiting Silver since I had something I wanted to talk to him about. Needless to say, I accidentally stumbled onto this horrific scene and found myself tangled up in a murder investigation as a witness. I saw Sonic crouched behind that desk looking suspicious. A few minutes later, you arrived and showed that my assumptions had some room for error. If you want my opinion, however, I still believe that only Sonic could've done all this despite the rather small tactical errors in my explanation of what happened here.

_**End Argument**_

"Boy, you really have a one-track mind, you know that?" Sonic stated as he gave Espio a harsh stare that could probably burn holes through him if they were sending out heat beams. "Is that what you've had stuck in your head all this time? I thought we already cleared that up before you decided to loaf around in the cafeteria."

"Well, unless you can provide me with some evidence that cannot possibly be refuted no matter how I look at it, I might consider a different possibility," the chameleon answered with his voice full of doubt at the thought. "You failed, however, to perform such a feat more than five hours ago. I highly doubt that much has changed being that you're sleep-deprived and hardly conducted this investigation through the books."

"And yet I was here for a good portion of their investigation making sure that nothing out of the ordinary was taking place," Shadow spoke up in defense that the previous investigation was as much through the books as it could have been in this particular situation. "So long as an upholder of the law presides over an investigation when the police themselves are unable to do so, the investigation stands. Needless to say, I've been keeping a close watch over Sonic and Tails, and they've done everything within their legal right."

"It's good to know that a well-trusted man within the prosecutor's office like yourself was here to oversee the proceedings," the freelance detective said with a small smile that seemed strangely devoid of any real emotion. It was almost as if he were trying to hide something behind that simple gesture. "It makes me feel more comfortable that what the fox is saying is nothing but the clear-cut truth."

"If you feel that comfortable about the whole thing, then how about I start asking you questions while you answer me whatever you can," Tails stated more than asked as he let a small sigh escape his lips. "It's the only way any of us are going to get any real answers about what happened tonight."

"'Real answers?' The way you say it, it's almost as if someone at some point tried to throw in a bit of false information to keep the police, or you as the investigator in this case, away from the real path. Is that what you're insinuating here?"

"I'm not insinuating anything here, Espio," the two tailed fox quickly responded in a serious tone without any hesitation. "I'm simply saying that I want to sort out all the information I've obtained over the past few hours and make sure the things I've collected all pertains to this case. So if you don't mind, let's go ahead and get this over with."

"Please make sure that you don't make us sound like a couple of idiots while you're doing this, Tails," the cobalt hedgehog warned his little brother as a slightly worried glance approached his face. "I would like to enter a courtroom without being labeled as the rookie defense attorney who acted like a total idiot out in the field."

"As if that should be something your mind has to be getting worked up with right now," the ebon furred hedgehog stated with a roll of his eyes as he shifted slightly on the couch. "You better learn how to get your priorities straightened out by the time you have to stare a problem like this in the face again."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"I don't think you've ever told us about where it was that you came from before you arrived at Silver's office," Tails stated as he tried to open up the discussion. "It might be good for us to know so that we'll be able to set up a timeline for you."

"Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the main topic at hand here," Espio simply countered as he crossed his arms. "I don't want to be straying off onto a tangent before we've even begun to talk about my recollection again. It'll just be a waste of time and keep you away from the real answers you so seek. If I might suggest, why don't you concentrate on trying to compare what you figured out with what I said all those hours ago?"

"If that's how you want things to work out right now, then I guess I don't have much of a choice," the two tailed fox responded with a mental sigh at how he quickly got shot down his path of questioning through smooth yet piercing words. He then added as he loosely crossed his arms in a small form of offensive behavior, "So no questions that have nothing to do with the topic is your current standing. Do you mind if I asked you again the reason why you felt that Sonic was the one to have murdered Ms. Rose and assaulted Silver?"

"I believe my reasons should still be fresh in your mind," the purple chameleon said with a minute hint of annoyance escaping his words. "I suppose I can do naught but comply and explain once again. When I entered the office, Sonic was already engaged in suspicious activity by crouching down behind the desk for no apparent reason. You both claimed that he was looking for evidence, but there wasn't anything that said he was simply trying to plant some and bring himself away from having any connection with the crime."

"If I wanted to bring myself out of the murder picture, I don't think I'd go about leaving evidence so small that they could be overlooked or accidentally crushed by someone's shoe," Sonic stated in a sort of deadpan fashion as his head sunk a bit. He was still leaning against the wall, but he changed positions in that his back was now against it. "I'd have to be a really stupid murderer to not make my fake evidence obvious."

"Murderers have always done strange things in the past in an attempt to keep themselves out of the police's eyes," the freelance detective simply stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "Then again, that's not my place to speak about since I have no idea on the results of your investigation. Anyway, the fact that he was the only person in the room at the time that I found him strongly indicated that he was the culprit. It's the only reasonable explanation accessible to anybody who stumbled upon the scene first like I did."

"No offense, but that sounds like a really weak basis for an accusation," Shadow spoke up as he was hearing Espio's version of events for the first time. "I'm surprised that a great freelance detective like you would make such a claim without any strong evidence to back it up. I've been in and read up on a few of the cases where you were called in to testify to the court about your findings. You managed to provide them with explanations that were more plausible and potentially provable than what I've heard now."

"Well, even the best of the best are sometimes forced to make such weak claims at times due to lack of abundant evidence. This, unfortunately, proves to be one of my lowest moments as an accusing detective. This just goes to show that nobody can possibly hope for a perfect outcome in their profession every single day."

"Well, how about we push these perfectionist thoughts aside for now guys?" Tails spoke up as he felt the conversation starting to move off topic. "And in respect to your thoroughness that you are said to have when testifying to the courts, do you think you can tell me how you knew Ms. Rose ended up being killed? From what I can remember, you hardly had any time to perform a rather thorough check of the scene before I attempted, and succeeded, in proving you wrong in your poorly based initial assumptions."

"I suspect that you're trying to find the smallest of flaws in what I saw during my short time examining this office," Espio stated without delving into the details of what he was asked. "It sounds like a stunt that only a desperate man cornered by the guns and blades of the law would try and pull. Grasping at straws for details that you could only hope to find in an otherwise flawless testimony isn't really becoming of any inquisitor worth their salt unless you were a sixteenth century torturing inquisitor."

"Please, I hardly find any kind of joy in the infliction of pain unto others," the two tailed fox responded with a disgusted pout on his face at the poorly made suggestion and comparison. "Can you just please answer the question without making this any more difficult than it already is for us all? And this does happen to fall within the boundaries of what we were originally talking about the last time I checked."

"I suppose you do raise a valid point there," the chameleon responded with a small sigh that was no doubt at having to repeat his actions from earlier that night again. "Very well, I'll recount those moments for you again, although I doubt how a retelling of a mere few seconds could prove helpful for your cause. I knew that the woman was killed by a Knife being plunged into her body. I merely deduced it because of the bloody blade lying on the floor in the office. It's the only possibility that anybody of my standing would come up with provided they only spent a few minutes researching like I did. Even so, the scene itself paints a rather obvious picture that requires hardly any researching."

"That's quite an accurate conclusion for you to have made with not even an adequate amount of time to properly survey the scene," Shadow stated with intrigue laced with another emotion reflecting in his words. "I suppose that's why you're considered to be one of the most succinct detective that the Precinct has ever known and worked alongside with despite you only being titled as freelance."

"If I weren't able to see certain things and make supported conclusions with what little time I have on a murder scene, then I could hardly consider myself to be a competent detective," the other simply answered with a small hint of pride in his tone. Despite his claim of being able to catch things quickly though, he failed to catch the unreadable emotion from the prosecutor's voice. "I only expect the best performance from myself; and that, in turn, forces me to only produce the best for the police and detectives to review."

"Well, don't go pushing yourself too hard that you'll only end up crashing the moment you realized you made a mistake," Sonic stated sarcastically after staying relatively quiet during the whole exchange. "It's guys with attitudes like yours who think that they can take on the world and end up argumentative and in major denial when proven wrong. Just a little bit of _friendly_ warning there," he added with added sarcasm on the word "friendly".

_**End Rebuttal**_

"As friendly as that warning was, I think it's too late for Espio to be bracing himself," Tails stated as he allowed a small snort to leave his nose. He then turned his attention to the chameleon with a certain tone to his voice, "From what you've told us, it sounds like you're concluding that Ms. Rose was killed by a single stab to her chest."

"Judging from your tone of voice, it sounds like you have something to say against that," Espio stated without answering the question. "Instead of asking me something you know that you're going to counter soon, why not just point out what you feel the contradiction is? It'll save the both of us some precious time."

"Alright then; what you just said is anything but the truth!" the two tailed fox stated in the bluntest way possible in response to how fast the other wanted him to get through with this. "Even with only a couple of minutes to examine the scene like you had, it should've been clear that death from a single wound was far from possible."

"And just how do you plan on making that rather bold counterclaim of yours have the ability to carry on water?" the chameleon asked with an indifferent tone in his voice that made it sound like he thought the other was simply bluffing. "You've hardly had time to conduct a proper investigation of this office yourself."

"You seem to be forgetting that despite the lack of time needed for me to perform a thorough investigation; I had hours to scavenge this scene whereas you only had a few minutes at best. I'm sure that you could've expected at least a couple of your claims to be debatable with such a difference in our time to collect information. And yes, I can make my claim sound more than reasonable for you."

"Uh, is it just me or is this starting to sound like they're trying to pick a fight with each other?" Sonic, who was still leaning against the wall, whispered to Knuckles. The other was still sitting on the couch, and the hedgehog moved to sit on the couch arm.

"If this were a courtroom, the two of them would've been thrown out long ago," the echidna stated as he let out a small sigh at the childish scene in front of him. "I can see why Tails prefers to question people outside of the courtroom. It's scenes like this that he wants to be able to prepare for without the rules of a court proceeding holding him back. Out here, it's practically anything goes provided arguments are well-founded."

"Well, let's just hope this doesn't end up getting him into any kind of trouble with Shadow," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he allowed a small frown to appear on his face. "The last thing we need right now is for our best and only inquisitor to get kicked out of this office for becoming too emotionally uncontrollable."

"Alright, that's enough with this pointless back and forth bickering," Shadow butted in as he started to feel that this was quickly turning into more of a personal attack on each other rather than a search for the truth. "We're starting to stray and take too long with our explanations. Tails, what is your reasoning for saying that Espio's account on what happened couldn't possibly have taken place?"

"We all clearly agree that he only had a couple of minutes to examine the scene," Tails said after clearing his throat in an attempt to leave the little episode behind him. "It's from that he said he concluded that Ms. Rose died from a single stab wound. However, just one careful look at the scene would've told him otherwise. His few minutes should've been more than enough time to discover the contradiction to that thought!"

"There's nothing about this scene that could've possibly made me reconsider my idea on how she was killed," Espio stated with a huff of his breath before crossing his arms. "You're merely trying to bluff your way out of here."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you," the two tailed fox responded as he pointed towards the Pool of Blood over by the bookshelf. "If you would just look over there for just a moment, I'm sure you'll know exactly what it is I'm talking about here. You'll see that your initial thoughts were nothing but a crafted lie!"

"…Well, isn't this interesting?" the freelance detective mused as he looked at the bloody stain with intrigued eyes. He did not seem at all annoyed or angered at being called a liar just a few moments ago and continued on as if nothing was out of the ordinary for a crime scene. "That is a rather large amount of blood to have come from simply one stab wound. However, I'm confused as to how this proves anything in your eyes."

"Are you seriously trying to play stupid with us here?" Sonic suddenly exclaimed as he stood to his feet. He was clearly getting both tired and annoyed with the rather cool and calm attitude the other had been exuding ever since they had started to ask him questions. "What this proves is that you purposely just fed us false information in the hopes that we'd be thrown off the real tracks leading to the truth of this murder."

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I haven't done anything of the sort tonight. While it may be true that the Pool of Blood proves my initial assumptions to possibly be wrong, I hardly see how that would automatically pin me for lying about the true facts on this case. Why don't you think back to the moment when I first ran into you here? I'm sure that you'll notice something slightly different from then and now."

"What the hell are you trying to pull this time?" the cobalt hedgehog murmured under his breath as he decided to humor the other and think back to when they had first discovered the scene. After a few seconds, he finally realized just what the detective was leading up to and ultimately figuring out what was wrong with Tails' argument. It also seemed that he himself had noticed since he had a look of surprise on his face. "Oh, you're saying that you couldn't have seen the blood at the time because all the books were piled over it."

"That's exactly what I was trying to say here. And it's because of that fact that your argument means nothing because it focuses on the assumption I made at that exact moment. And at that exact moment, I wasn't lying about how she was killed simply because I didn't have adequate information that might've said otherwise."

"Gah, I completely forgot about those books!" the two tailed fox exclaimed as he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. He then said after a couple of seconds of self-belittlement, "R-regardless of the fact that you couldn't have seen the Pool of Blood, it still doesn't make sense that you would automatically assume that she was killed immediately after being stabbed. That's just too quick of an assumption."

"Then how about this? Why don't you show me some proof that shows she never died from something other than the initial stab? That blood stain on the floor hardly proves anything except that she was bleeding profusely. Of course, I highly doubt that you'll be able to pull off something like that."

"Then I suggest that you think again," the fox immediately countered. "Don't you remember me telling you earlier that I've had hours to look at this scene? You have to give me more credit in my ability to gather information here. As such, I have Ms. Rose's Autopsy Report, courtesy of Knuckles here, that gives details about her death. And I have here the report that's been penned by the detective's own hand. It says that there were clearly two stab wounds on her body. This along with the Pool of Blood can only mean that she survived the first stabbing before succumbing to a second attack."

"…Hmm, maybe you're not as stupid as I gave you credit for," Espio pondered in a not-so-quiet tone. This enticed a rather audible growl from Sonic in anger at his little brother being called, let alone being considered, to be stupid. Knuckles had to grab a hold of his arm in fear that he might have lunged at the chameleon at any given time. Tails, on the other hand, merely stood calmly while meeting the other's gaze without faltering.

"Hey, there will be no insults being thrown at each other!" Shadow warned as he also felt the tension in the room rise at that comment. "This is supposed to be a civilized argument. If I feel that this is starting to take a sharp turn towards solely personal attacks, I'll call this off and let the police handle it when they arrive."

"Oh, I was simply just stating what was on my mind the entire time," the chameleon simply answered with a wave of his hand in dismissal as if that would make his earlier comment that much easier to handle. "There's no need for any of you to be getting so hot-headed over something small as this.

"Anyway, why don't we move on to the matter of Ms. Rose's death?" he continued on while ignoring the harsh glares in his directions. He then took the report that had been in Tails' hands the entire time and quickly read through it. "Well, it does look like she was killed in the second attack. That would then explain the excessive amount of blood on the floor and why her body is not lying over it. She probably moved at bit before being attacked the second time."

"But there's still one thing about how this whole murder took place that makes me feel real uncomfortable," the two tailed fox added as he tried to build up to the moment when he could make his accusation. "I've read in a Newspaper Article provided to me by Detective Silver during the party that the senatorial candidate was a former member of the military's Special Forces team and that she was well versed in knife combat."

"I don't see how this holds any kind of importance to the case or to the reason why I'm even back up here."

"Then let us think in theoretical sense for the moment. Since it's a fact that she was a knife combat specialist as stated in the article, it would only go to say that she's most likely also good at fighting against others armed with knives. This then begs a rather crucial question that you should be asking yourself right now. Why is it that she ended up getting stabbed twice by a knife when she should theoretically have been stabbed zero times with her combat knowledge in mind? Doesn't that strike you as odd, Espio?"

"Not as odd as the wild story I feel starting to form in that head of yours. But I'll just play along with this supposition. Wouldn't it have been possible that she was taken by surprise the first time around and stabbed in the back? That would explain the lack of self-defense from the initial attack."

"Did you really just fail to read over the entire report Tails gave you?" Knuckles asked, his mind starting to establish that his friend's behavior was odd and considering him to be a main suspect with each passing minute. "I put down on there that he was stabbed twice, once in the lower stomach and the second close to her heart."

"Oh, I guess I skimmed it too quickly. I suppose that puts my surprise attack theory out to the curb. Then what exactly is it that you're going with this thought, Tails?"

"I wonder; who in this room right now has the most knowledge about armed combat that could easily match that of Ms. Rose?" Tails asked, wanting Espio to answer the question rather than just accuse him outright. "It would only make sense if two people with equal level in knife combat were in here for her to have sustained deadly damage."

"I'm sorry, but are you insinuating that I might have something to do with this murder?" Espio asked with raised eyebrows, his voice sounding surprised after sounding so calm and collected during the entire questioning.

"If that's how you want to look at it, then yes," the two tailed fox simply replied with a nod of his head as he mentally grinned at finally making a dent in the chameleon's emotionally stoic armor. "From what I've learned about you during the party, you are an expert in Ninjitsu arts and own your own dojo. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the art usually deals with weapons during the martial arts, am I right?"

"Yes, the style I learned does revolve heavily around daggers and bamboo rods as weapons," the chameleon responded truthfully as he finally figured out how the fox was planning on tying him in with the murder. "So you're saying because of my vast knowledge in martial arts that involve weaponry, you consider me to be a prime suspect in the murder of Ms. Rose and subsequently the assaulter against Silver?"

"That's pretty much it in a nutshell buddy," Sonic confirmed before his little brother could do so. "A regular person like me couldn't possibly hope to land even a scratch on her with a knife because of her combat skills. You can't possibly consider me to be a prime suspect under this new light; although we can't really say the same thing about you. You were at the party when she said she was going to have a meeting with Silver tonight, so you knew where she'd be and took the opportunity."

"And let me add something before you go saying that others from Silver's party could've also had the opportunity," Shadow added before anybody else could add anything. "I've heard the alibies of everybody in attendance that evening about the fifteen minutes she was being killed. They all have rather concrete ways of proving it through security cameras and appointment records."

"That sounds all well and good, but you all seem to be forgetting one thing," the freelance detective stated in an aggravated tone, not bothering to try and sound calm this time around. "I happen to have an alibi for the time this murder occurred, one that I have yet to indulge you all on. Perhaps you'll know that I'm innocent once you've heard it."

"If you remember back to our previous argument, I asked for you to give me your alibi before you refused under the pretense that it had nothing to do with the current question," Tails stated as he felt happy at finally being able to get to the crux of the mystery. "However, now we're delving into another question that revolves solely on your alibi, so there shouldn't be any reason why you should refuse."

"Seeing as how my innocence in all this is on the line, I can't see how I can go about refusing to speak of my alibi. I still can't believe that you came up with this absurd claim with nothing except my martial arts to back it up."

"Well, you shouldn't have anything to worry about if your alibi is as concrete as you so say it is," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a small smirk making its way to his lips. "All you have to do is to tell us what your alibi is. If it ends up checking out, then you're free to go. It couldn't possibly be any simpler than that."

"And where is it exactly that you want me to start off?" Espio asked with the slightest hints of venom in his words as he tried his best to recover from his previously aggravated behavior and into stoic stares. He then added sarcastically, "I doubt that you want to hear about every single little thing I did yesterday."

"Why don't you start by telling us exactly what you did a little bit before midnight last night?" Tails asked as he tried to sound professional and ignore the sarcastic bite. Sonic, however, allowed himself to freely scoff at the behavior. He was still sitting on the couch's arm with his arms folded tightly across his chest while Knuckles rolled his eyes at the hedgehog's behavior. "That's all I'm really concerned about here."

"Not to mention that it's already six in the morning," Shadow added in a warning tone as he stole a glance at the wall clock in the room. "You only have roughly about two hours left to get whatever points you have floating around in your head out."

"Thanks for the warning, Shadow," the two tailed fox responded with a sigh that clearly indicated he did not want to hear about the time. "Anyway, can you tell us what it was that you did during the time Ms. Rose was in here getting killed by her murderer, Espio?"

"And no doing those stall tactics or saying you can't talk about it because it's not the subject!" Sonic added for good measure from his seated position on the couch arm since he did not want a repeat of what happened during the first questioning. "We want some progression here, not loss of time until the police finally get here."

"Sonic, just shut up and let the guy say what he has to say," Knuckles cut in with a roll of his eyes at his overzealous friend. "At the rate _you're_ going with these stupid outbursts, Hell would freeze over before we got any closer to the truth."

"Regardless of his uncalled for outburst, I must agree with Sonic," the ebon furred hedgehog agreed with a slight frown to indicate he did not like the attitude but sided with the words behind it. "Just try to answer any and all questions the best you can for the sake of time, Espio. Do you understand?"

"As if I have any choice in the matter here," the purple chameleon stated with a grunt accompanied with an annoyed shake of his head. "You all look as if you're ready to peg me for sole suspect here, and I want to clear my name away from that."

_**Argument: My Alibi  
><strong>_

To be honest with you, I really don't understand your thoughts leading me to be your suspect in this murder. If you must know, I left the party with Vector around the same time you and Sonic did. After that, we went to his office to discuss a few things. I would say that it was about a quarter before midnight when I left his office. If you want, you should ask Vector about it when he comes back. He'll be more than happy to confirm my alibi.

_**End Argument**_

"You do understand that Vector's busy out doing whatever it is he said he had to do, right?" Sonic asked as he remembered what the crocodile told them before he left the scene. "There really isn't that good of a chance that we'll be able to reach him right now. Pair that up with the fact that he was going to ignore any and all calls made to him right now and we're not going to be getting any kind of confirmation from him until probably well after the police get here and take over the investigation."

"Then I guess you can't go suspecting me until you've proven that my alibi isn't real or too stable to stand on," Espio countered coolly with a huff of his breath as he fiddled around with his horn a bit. "And besides, you merely asked to hear my alibi, and I did just that if only to appease your curiosity and clear my good name. Proving whether or not it's suitable enough to meet your standards is up to you."

"Making yourself sound cocky doesn't really help with your overall portrayal in all this, you know that?" Shadow lightly warned as he raised an eyebrow at the chameleon's attitude. "And that's especially so since you're right now the only current person that we can consider to be a suspect at this time. I advise that you should try to put more effort in proving your own innocence rather than waiting for them to do so."

"Then again, he's always sounded cocky whenever he thinks he's right beyond a doubt about anything," Knuckles responded with a sigh as he told them of the other's usual quirk. "I have to admit that it does get real annoying when we're trying to find other plausible possibilities other than just his. That's basically his way of being stubborn in not wanting to believe in any other possibilities other than his own."

"Then I guess it's only fair that I should make him try and see things in a different light," Tails stated as he lightly sucked at the corner of his mouth in thought. He was not sure how to start out his attack, but he figured questions always led him to his desired answers and chose to just go with it. "Let's just get on with this and stop wasting time."

"I couldn't agree with you more on that," the freelance detective agreed with a nod of his head as he lightly crossed his arms and prepared himself for what promised to most likely be an onslaught of questions. "I have to open up my dojo in a few more hours, and I don't want to deprive my students of precious practice time."

_How can you be thinking about something of lesser importance like your dojo at a time like this?_ the two tailed fox thought with a small sigh as he mentally did a face palm to his forehead. His two tails were also twitching a bit in slight irritation at the current situation. _People in your position would normally be wondering how they got themselves into a situation like this, not worrying about their personal life. That's what I personally did when I was first pinned for murder._

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"How about we go ahead and start off with this simple question?" Tails asked in more of a statement tone as he tried to get the logic train moving towards the truth. "I'm sure you can answer this without any problems whatsoever. About what time would you say you left Silver's office where his promotion party was being held, Espio?"

"I left at about the same time as you, which is to say I left at roughly around half past eleven," Espio stated with strong annoyance behind his words. "Honestly, if you're so desperate to try and catch me in an imaginary lie, don't you think it better that you try poking around at times where you couldn't have possibly been around me? I swear, you already knew that answer yet still chose to be redundant just to be annoying."

"He does raise a rather good point, Tails," Shadow agreed with the purple chameleon with a curt nod of his head as he looked at the fox with a stoic face cleverly hiding the slight concern in his eyes. "I don't see how you asking him about something you both already know the answer to will help in validating his alibi for the murder. Don't you think you're just merely wasting what little time you have left like this?"

"I just wanted to officially determine just when it was where I had no chance to have known what he was doing," the two tailed fox simply explained as he nervously rubbed at the back of his neck a bit. "Knowing what he did just before the time in question can sometimes give me answers I had either previously failed to catch or could not come up with due to the lack of information. Asking questions to what I already know might end up telling me something I didn't initially notice the first time around."

"But even you have got to admit that you're being unintentionally annoying with it, Tails," Sonic said to his little brother with a small sigh of agreement with the ebon furred hedgehog. "I know that attorneys like me and Shadow tend to be repetitive, but you're just taking it to a completely different level."

"Anyway, you said that you followed Vector down to his office after you both left the party," the young fox continued on before anybody could have a chance to say anything else about his redundancy with questions that he knew he was doing. Shadow was right when he said that they were losing precious time, whether it was on redundant questions or him explaining his inquisitive actions. "If you don't mind, could you tell us the reason why you decided to meet up with him again there?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to him about some of the cases that we've worked on in the past and on the current one that we are unfortunately stuck on," the freelance detective explained without spending any time thinking on it. "I hope you're not going to ask me to go into detail about the cases we were discussing. It's rather boring and honestly doesn't have anything to do with what's currently at hand."

"I agree with you; I wasn't planning on asking you about things that honestly add nothing to solving this case. I must say, though, that you probably didn't spend too much time talking to him about it. After all, you claimed to have only spent about ten minutes before leaving his office to wherever it was you were planning to go to. That would mean you left his office at around a quarter before midnight. And speaking of which, just where was it that you had in mind to go to?"

"Actually, there was a sort of small mistake that I made in regards to when I left Vector's office," Espio stated as he backtracked in his details a bit. This, in turn, caused some slightly raised eyebrows to be concentrated on him. "You see, when I had left his office, I quickly came back. I had suddenly remembered something of dire importance I needed to discuss with him that I couldn't afford to put off until the next day."

_**New Statement**_

Needless to say, I had entered Vector's office twice within the thirty minutes after I had left Silver's party. I didn't officially make my leave of the prosecutor until it was just a minute or so past midnight.

_**End New Statement**_

"And why didn't you tell us this the first time around?" Sonic asked, clearly annoyed that the detective managed to forget something like that in a testimony that could possibly save his life. "That isn't necessarily something that someone would normally forget under any kind of circumstances. You got to admit that it kind of makes you look a bit suspicious now that you're trying to make corrections to what you just said, you know?"

"I have to agree with Sonic here," Tails stated as he squinted his eyes ever so slightly in suspicion at the sudden change the detective had made. "You're busy trying to provide us with your alibi that you say can prove that you have no viable connection to this murder. You shouldn't have been able to forget about something that couldn't possibly that easily forgettable, especially since you said the reason you came back to Vector's office a second time was to discuss something important with him."

"As I said before, it was simply a small mistake on my part," Espio repeated indifferently with a simple shrug of his shoulders as if that answer were enough to grant him forgiveness. "Don't you think you could give me just a little bit of credit here since I'm pretty much sleep-deprived like I'm sure the rest of you are? Being up all night can certainly take its toll on even seasoned detectives like me. I think I'm entitled to have made one or two small mistakes under these unfortunately intense conditions."

"Heh, you could've fooled me into thinking you were anywhere near tired," the cobalt hedgehog bit back with a small childish pout that did not seem to fit the occasion. This earned him an eye roll from both Tails and Knuckles and a barely audible snort of what sounded to be amusement from Shadow. "You're busy acting like it's only in the middle of the afternoon or something like that with your attitude."

"Regardless, the detective's right now adding in that little detail into his account," the ebon furred hedgehog quickly butted in before things became more heated and consequentially argumentative. "It isn't like we're right now questioning him in front of a judge and audience in court, so we can give some leeway against something like this. But it does make you sound a bit off regardless under what conditions you're testifying under," he added in agreement with the defense attorney's previous argument. "I probably know you better than the rest of us in here, and you're not prone to make rookie mistakes like that."

"Then I promise to try and be more careful the next time you need me to supply you with my testimony," the purple chameleon responded in a nonchalant fashion as he began to poke at the tip of his horn again. He then continued on as he cleared his throat before loosely crossing his arms, "Moving on from this little mistake of mine now, I was for certain in Vector's office last night until just after midnight."

"If that's true, then that still kind of leaves you as a possible suspect in Ms. Rose's murder," the two tailed fox stated as he mentally reviewed all the new information that he had learned through his head. "It didn't really help to secure your innocence. In fact, you probably ended up hurting it by adding the fact about your second visit that both doesn't help you and hurts you in the fact that you only just remembered about it."

"Think what you want to about it, but I assure you that what I've just added is nothing but the truth," the freelance detective responded with a stout nod of his head. "You can ask Vector about it once you find the time to do so. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to vouch for me against your crazy thoughts."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"I'm sorry, but do you mind if I cut you two off for a couple of moments, Tails?" Knuckles, who had been quietly listening to the exchange ever since it first started, suddenly asked after lightly clearing his throat a bit. The tone of his voice clearly portrayed that he was feeling uneasy about something. "I just heard you two talk about something that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me."

"What is it, Knuckles?" Tails inquired with a slightly raised eyebrow as he turned his attention to the echidna who was still on the couch. However, he was now sitting upright and had his chin resting on his hand in a thoughtful manner.

"Espio, you just changed your testimony to reflect that you left Vector's office for a couple of minutes before going back in to discuss something private," the detective recapped without really addressing the fox's inquiry. "You then left again just after midnight. That's what you said you did, right?"

"I don't know what you're getting at here, but yeah," Espio answered with a quick nod and a suspicious glint in his eyes. "I knew that it was after midnight since I heard Vector's digital clock on his desk go off. He always keeps one in his office so he could set it to the time when he's supposed to leave for something important. He never did figure out how to make it stop with those annoying hourly beeps, though."

"Yes, he does have something like that in there," the other admitted with a thoughtful tone to his words. "However, that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about your claim that you were in there until that time."

"And just what is it about what I said that concerns you?" the purple chameleon asked with his eyebrows raised in question. "I hardly see how the truth would cause you any concern to question me."

"You were too busy in your own little world at the time, so I doubt that you know what I'm getting at. However, when I was on the second floor getting ready to process some of my case files in the data room, I saw you on your cell phone talking to somebody. That was five minutes before midnight. I was talking to the receptionist about checking something for me and happened to see the time on her computer screen. Before I went into the data room, I still saw talking on the phone."

"O-oh really?" the purple chameleon asked as he strangely picked up a somewhat flustered attitude to his words while keeping a calm demeanor. "I admit that I was down there sometime tonight, but you must have your time wrong. I wasn't anywhere on the second floor around midnight."

"Sorry, but I know I'm right about the time here. You should know that the I.D scanner and camera connected to the data room have timestamps on them. I saw you sitting by yourself on the phone when I went in, and you were already gone by the time I came back out five or so minutes later. And if you want proof that I saw you there at that time, then we can just check out the outer camera that covers the surrounding area. The place where I remember you sitting at should be captured clearly in the camera's background."

"Ah-ha, we finally caught you in a lie that we can easily prove!" Sonic exclaimed happily with a triumphant smirk on his face. The freelance detective, on the other hand, started to have a flustered appearance on his face as he nervously fidgeted around with the tip of his horn. "And you were trying to cover it up with another lie on top of it. How are you planning to get yourself out of this one, buddy?"

"Ha, I say that you show me evidence saying that what Detective Knuckles said is the actual truth!" the freelance detective immediately countered with a slight growl to his words and an annoyed click of his tongue. "You right now have two things that are going against you and that ridiculous claim of his. For one, you have yet to question Vector to see if he can validate my alibi. Secondly, where is this so-called security footage that shows he actually saw me on the second floor talking on my cell phone? That could simply just be a bluff on his part so that he can fabricate a line of attack for you."

"Espio, you've known me long enough to know that I wouldn't pull something like that!" Knuckles exclaimed as he tried to sound professional despite the bite of anger coming out with his words from being accused as a desperate liar. "I don't just frivolously come up with claims and hope that they'll pass without any way of proving them. That's not how I conduct any of the investigations that I'm involved with."

"Yet you seemed to have failed to do so in that regard. I doubt that you'll be able to get that video right now. We've been at this for a half an hour now, meaning that it's past six in the morning. And in case you don't know what that means, those security footages are repetitively wiped every six hours, starting from midnight. Unless there was something greatly illegal taking place outside the data room, there would be no alarm warning the security guard keeping watch over those cameras to look over at it. In other words, you have no proof that you saw me on the second floor of this precinct as you're claiming!"

"And how can you be so sure on that, Espio?" Shadow, who had been quiet ever since this issue came up, questioned with a cleverly masked cocky edge to his words. "How can you say for certain that there's no way to prove whether this issue is true or false? That's a rather impossible claim if you think about it."

"Not unless you consider all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the security camera issue. I've already said that those footages are erased every six hours to retain memory space. Unless the security guard caught something suspicious on them, they have no reason to go about saving them."

"That would usually be the case," the ebon furred hedgehog as he continued on with his faux stoic tone. "However, what if I told you that the security footage in question was still alive and well at this very moment?"

"Then I would say that you're just as bad as everybody else here and trying to bluff your way to a truth that's nonexistent. There's no possible way that the footage in question could've survived the memory wipe at six this morning."

"Then be prepared to be proven wrong on that accord, because I just so happen to have the data of the footage in question," the prosecutor stated as he pulled out a small flash drive out from his gloved hands. "I took the liberty of preserving it so as to confirm Knuckles' alibi before I went to ask you to come up. I also took it upon myself to view the footage of the time in question and saw that his alibi was irrefutable. And coincidentally, I saw you in the background talking on your phone until after Knuckles went into the data room and the timestamp went past midnight before you moved in the direction of the stairwell," he added as he turned his attention towards Tails and flashed him a barely noticeable apologetic glance.

"So that's why it ended up taking you over half an hour when you left us to get Espio from the cafeteria!" Sonic exclaimed in realization while the chameleon looked surprised at this sudden revelation. "You took a side trip in order to secure confirmation of Knuckles' alibi before it ended up getting erased. And that consequentially ended up helping us prove that what he said he saw was the truth."

"I'm sorry for not explaining earlier why I was late, but I wanted to hear what he was claiming to have been doing at the time before I told any of you about my little detour. I didn't want to give him a chance to change his alibi to bypass any kind of contradictions that might've arisen. And now that we've exploited the contradiction I assumed would appear, would you care to explain why you lied to us? I'm sure that there must've been some good reason as to why you did that. And don't even go about saying that we haven't yet to question Vector about your alibi. This footage renders the need to do so unnecessary."

"…Humph, I should've figured that you were luring me into a trap the moment you opened your mouth in question to my thoughts on the security footage," the purple chameleon stated calmly once he recovered from the initial shock of being so suddenly caught at the prosecutor's rather clever entrapment. "Of course there was a good reason why I lied about where I really was at the time! I lied because I didn't want the fact of you all knowing where I truly was to compromise my job in any way."

"To compromise your job?" Tails repeated with eyebrows raised in confusion while Sonic simply snorted in disbelief. "What kind of job were you possibly doing that you needed to lie about where you were just before the murder?"

"I guess it's best to tell you since you seem to be refusing to back down from pinning me as the true culprit," the freelance detective stated with a resigned sigh and a shake of his head. "I just hope this doesn't end up compromising what little is left of my work."

_**Argument: Reason for Lying  
><strong>_

At times, my duty as a freelance detective requires me to lie to investigators because of certain aspects tied into some jobs. You see, the Chaotix Detective Agency had received an anonymous request a week ago asking that we keep tabs on Ms. Kuro Rose's every movement. Vector saw no point in following up with the request once he got wind of it. His main reason was because the pay stated in the Letter of Request was nowhere near what he felt to be considered acceptable for a job that concerned someone of potential power like the senatorial candidate. Needless to say, I took it upon myself to accept the job at my own discretion. And since I didn't want my "stalker" behavior to be disclosed before I felt the time was right, I lied about my whereabouts at the moments leading up to her unfortunate murder.

_**End Argument**_

"And that's the reason you're giving us as to why you lied in the first place about where you really were?" Sonic asked in a tone that was filled with nothing but pure disbelief after the explanation was over. "Do you really expect us to believe something like that to be the truth? It's probably just another attempt to cover up at an already exposed lie."

"I don't think he's lying this time around, Sonic," Tails stated with skepticism in his words at his older brother's heated and probably biased proclamation. "That kind of testimony doesn't really sound like something that even the most experienced of liars could come up with in less than two minutes."

"Well, a more definitive way to see if he's lying is to see this Letter of Request the detective agency allegedly received," Shadow suggested as he gave Espio a quick look that gave off the silent question that everybody knew.

"And I happen to have the letter in question on my personage at this moment," the purple chameleon responded as he pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from his glove and handed it to the fox. "I suggest that you don't try sending it to the handwriting analysis department, because the entire letter wasn't written by hand."

With eyebrows raised in question, the two tailed fox took the letter and quickly unfolded it. He soon realized what the other meant when he saw the words created from what seemed to be choice letters cut out from newspapers and magazines in order to form words. It was almost as if a criminal was trying to leave a ransom note behind.

"Wow, that's an interesting way to make a request," Knuckles said as he finally got up from the couch and looked over the yellow fox's shoulder to read the note. "And it goes to say that the creator wanted the Chaotix Detective Agency to simply keep watch over Ms. Rose at virtually every hour of the day. That's sounds like a practically impossible request. And is it just me, or is there something lodged in between the paper and letter there?"

"Oh, I didn't see that," Tails said as he looked at where the echidna was pointing at. He carefully pulled out the object and immediately recognized what it was. "Hey, this looks exactly like the Scale we found Silver holding onto! It has a bit of glue on it, though."

"Really," Shadow stated more than asked with intrigue in his eyes. "So once we get the results of the first scale we sent in to forensics earlier, then we'll know who it was that created the letter. Until then though, we'll just work with what we have. I must say that the instructions on this letter seem rather impossible to fulfill."

"Nevertheless, a challenge is a challenge," the freelance detective simply said with a small nod of his head as he seemingly ignored the fact about the Scale that was discovered as if it were nothing important. "And as I'm sure you already know Knuckles, I'm not the kind of guy who would simply just back out of a challenge."

"Which would then explain why you took on the job when your boss originally declined it," the cobalt hedgehog finished off as he seemed just slightly more willing to accept the previous explanation as the truth with the Letter of Request now in front of them. "But I still don't understand why you needed to lie to us earlier."

"Doing anything that could be construed as illegal when regarding high authority figures don't usually bode well for the enactor of said illegal activity," the chameleon explained. "As such, I didn't want the police to be keeping watch over me while I was keeping watch over Ms. Kuro Rose. That is why I lied earlier. Now I hope you're not going to waste more of our time and question me more about what I've just told you and proved to be the truth."

"Sorry, but I personally still have more questions that I want to ask you," the two tailed fox apologized in a somewhat fake apologetic tone. "I don't like leaving things at face value when they can be delved deeper into."

"I'm beginning to see that. Alright, I suppose I can do naught but comply, especially since I need to further redeem myself from my supposed lie you caught me in."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"I would like to hear a bit more about what you initially thought when you first received and read the Letter of Request," Tails started out with no particular logical destination in mind. "What did you think the letter really wanted you to accomplish by stalking Ms. Rose? It was pretty vague when it came to that little detail."

"Well, Vector and I figured that it probably came from some worker that's in league with an opposing candidate's campaign trying to get some dirt on her," Espio suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. "That's another reason why he chose not to pursue the request. He doesn't like to get involved in anything that's related to politics. As for me, I wanted to take on the challenge that, like you Knuckles, Vector said to be virtually impossible and not worth the company's time and effort. I wanted to prove to him that everything was possible to do and complete if you just gave it everything you had and more. That and I real curious to see what the reason was that they wanted us to follow her. I may not look it, but I'm rather curious by nature. Why do you think I worked with Vector in his detective agency?"

"We don't know, and we don't care," Sonic quickly stated as he stole a quick glance at the clock and saw that it registered a quarter before seven. "We're seriously running low on time here, so how about we try to stay on track for the rest of the time from here on out? I don't have anything against the police, but I don't want them to get here and take over this case now that we're already so far into it."

"Then how about we go into a quick recap of the past week or so that Espio's been on this job?" Knuckles suggested with a shrug of his shoulders as he tried to create another line of attack for the young fox. "I can only assume that that was what you've been doing since this is the first I've seen you in the past week. Then again, this was Ms. Rose's first time being here in a week's time, so I suppose the timing would make sense. And just for idle curiosity, did you managed to figure out anything about her that could be consider damning in her campaign for this district's race for senator?"

"Every candidate has skeletons lying deep within the darkness of their closets," the purple chameleon responded with a small snort. "Unfortunately, whatever skeletons she did have in her possession were things that have already been made public at some point of her rather eventful life. I even managed to infiltrate her house in an attempt to find something against her, but I still fell short."

"You are aware that what you just said is considered to be breaking and entering, right?" Shadow stated more than asked with his eyebrows crossed in seriousness. "I've seen the Letter of Request, and nowhere in it does it say that they wanted you to gather information on the woman at any cost. It was vague in all aspects, and you had no right to assume what the true meaning of the letter was."

"The life of a freelance detective is to merely gather information, especially if the info is considered to be well worth the risk of breaking the law," the freelance detective simply responded coolly as if the action he had just admitted to was nothing of major consequence. "Regardless, this was one gamble against the law that I'll admit I've lost. If you're so desperate to pin me down for a crime, then you can go ahead and file a report on this _after_ we're done with all this."

"The Precinct would probably just throw it out considering that it's you and that you were acting under the assumed message of a rather cryptic letter," the two tailed fox said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It is a good defense under the accusation of breaking and entering regardless of how flimsy it sounds now because of both your occupation and the existence of the letter. Anyway, the main point in all this was that you lied to us about what you did in the few minutes before Ms. Rose's death because you felt that your current job would be in jeopardy if revealed. Is that what you're claiming?"

"If I were to be claiming anything else, then I doubt it would really make any good sense to my actions. Under certain circumstances in my line of work, I'm sure I'm allowed a couple of white lies every now and then."

"White lies that just so happened to become an interference to the progression of our case," Sonic added with a scowl that clearly reflected his disbelief with the current explanation. "I believe in coincidences as much as the next person, but this just seems way too convenient on your end for my tastes."

"Think whatever it is you want of it, Sonic. All I'm going to say is that everything I did tonight that you've discovered and learned to be a lie was all to keep my current job afloat. In fact, most of the things that you've heard of me doing from Knuckles' Testimony was done in accordance to my current job."

"If that's the case, then do you mind if I ask you about something else?" Tails asked in a rather rhetorical fashion. "You've already explained that you lied about where you were just before Ms. Rose's murder. We also have Knuckles' testimony and the security footage that says you were busy on your cell phone at the time. Do you think you can tell us who you were calling then? You never really elaborated on it this whole time."

"I never said anything on it because I believed it to have had no relevance whatsoever to this case," Espio answered with a small shake of his head. "Honestly, how could one small action discovered within the center of a lie pose as much importance as you're trying to give it? That's nothing more than the desperate actions of a cornered man."

"Nevertheless, it's still a question worth exploring being that we know nothing of it," the fox countered with honestly nothing better to go with at this time. In the back of his mind, he had to admit that this was a cornered man's last desperate attempt at staying alive, but he would rather be caught dead before he outwardly admitted it. "And as you said, it was discovered in the middle of your lie. So why don't you tell us just who exactly it was you were talking to at the time before you left?"

"If you really must know, I was talking to Vector there about the status of my job," the chameleon answered with an annoyed sigh at having to explain about something so mediocre. "The truth about the office fiasco was that I did follow him there and left at fifteen minutes before midnight. I had caught wind through idle gossip that Ms. Rose was going to come down to the second floor after she was done with her meeting with Silver, so I decided to go down there and wait for her. What she was planning to do there, I don't know. However, I was down there for the sole reason of figuring it out."

"Then why did you suddenly decided to just leave where you thought would be your best chance at snooping over her business here?" the cobalt hedgehog inquired with a small sigh of thoughtfulness at the other's proclaimed actions of the midnight hour. "If that was the only thing that you had going for you information wise, then it seems kind of stupid how you would just abandon your only lead like that."

"As you know, Vector has a tendency to leave his office door wide open," the freelance detective quickly explained without any hesitation. "And as I'm sure you also know, his office is situated right next to the stairwell door that's currently broken. When I was on the phone with him, I was talking to him about certain stuff we failed to go over in our previous meeting. I also had him keep an open ear for any footsteps in the stairwell. Rumor was that the woman was supposed to have come to the second floor clerk's desk by around midnight. When it had come and passed, I asked the prosecutor if she had passed by, and he said nobody either went up or down those stairs. As such, I decided to leave my post and go to Silver's office to try and see what might have been holding her up."

"That would go to say then that you entered Silver's office while they were still in their private meeting," the two tailed fox concluded as he pieced together all the things that he had just learned. "That would make you the last visitor within those fifteen minutes she was killed in and thus the only person who could've caused all of this damage! It's the only explanation that's both logical and possible!"

"I wouldn't be too sure on that if I were you. Do you have any kind of proof on the matter that says I entered this office with nothing but a cold and murderous heart beating in my chest? If you do, then I'll be more than happy to entertain it. Otherwise, I suggest that you keep your slanderous comments to yourself. Don't forget that I can make your life a living hell for trying to ruin my good name with false accusations.

"With all this aside, I emphatically claim that I was nowhere near this office at the time the murder occurred," he continued on as he ignored the angry growl he had incited out of the defense attorney with his previous comment. "And I also claim that everything I have said up to this point has been nothing but the honest truth. I just only hope that your quest to squeeze out every single ounce of truthful information from me didn't end up destroying what little I had left from this stalking job."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"If I were you, your current detective job would be the last thing I'd be worrying about," Shadow stated with a huff of his breath that strangely sounded like annoyance. "In fact, I'd be wondering what my next plan of escape would be right about now."

"And whatever do you mean by that, Shadow?" Espio questioned with his eyebrows raised as his shoulders tensed up a bit and his words gained a slight defensive posture to it. Apparently, he remembered the last time the ebon furred hedgehog had questioned him about something, and he was not going to be put off guard this time around. "If you're insinuating that I have something to hide this time around, then I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken. I have told you all nothing but the bare truth."

"That's what you would like for us to believe, but you have no idea how your statements actually bare connections to what I've done in the thirty minutes before I went to get you from the cafeteria," the prosecutor responded as he began to chisel away at the chameleon's hastily placed defenses against whatever he was attacking with.

"Wh-what are you talking about, Shadow?" Sonic and Knuckles asked, both of them shocked at how their friend was suddenly taking such a keen interest on the case when he had previously not. Then Sonic asked, "What are you talking about when you say the things you did thirty minutes before bringing Espio up here?"

"What I'm saying is that I didn't just make a side trip to the security room in that time," he explained without unlocking his eyes from the freelance detective that stared back at him with harsh stares. "I also made a short trip to the third floor computer technician's office so as to gather up evidence of Vector's alibi proposed by Knuckles. Needless to say, his relation to this case is nothing more than just an investigator."

"And how is his alibi supposed to prove something against me? At least, that's the impression I'm getting from hearing you talk right now. That and using another person's alibi to confront somebody isn't really something even the most seasoned of attorneys would dare to try since they rarely ever work in the end."

"I assure you, this little gamble of mine has no chance of failing. What I'm getting at here is the time when Vector made his appointment to meet with the technician. He requested that the person come up to check on his computer sometime after it had crashed. That was about five minutes before midnight, and I know because I was on the phone with him transferring some files when it happened. And according to the phone records, the technician received a call from him not even one minute before we hung up and lasted until a minute after midnight! Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Instead of answering, Espio simply growled out in anger and also what seemed to be slight desperation. Despite not saying it, his worried look told them all that he understood the implications of Shadow's words. His eyes, however, still shown with fight and seemingly reflected his brain working quickly for a new plausible statement.

"What you're saying is that it was impossible for Espio to be on the phone with Vector at the time," Tails responded as the pieces slowly started to fit into their rightful places in his brain. "And for the timeframe that Knuckles said he saw him on it, it's impossible for the two of them to have been communicating!"

"Espio!" Knuckles exclaimed in both anger and frustration at the man who he thought of as both a colleague and friend. He had since gotten back onto his feet and staring at the other with hard eyes that were clearly shining with belief that he was really the true culprit in all this. "Why the hell have you been lying to us all this time? You better start telling the truth here, or we're really going to think that you're the one who did this! I don't want to, but I'll throw you in jail myself if it comes to it!"

_**Argument: The Lack of Cooperation  
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…Humph, a couple of lies shouldn't automatically tag me as a murderer. So what if I wasn't talking to Vector in his office at the time? Does it really matter whether or not I was talking to him on my cell phone during my time on the Precinct's second floor? I thought for sure that you would understand the background message I was giving off when I fabricated who I was really talking to. I was basically telling you that whoever I was talking to about whatever during that phone call was none of your business!

_**End Argument**_

"And this is your explanation as to why you lied to us about your phone call?" Shadow asked before anybody else had a chance to say anything about this clearly hastily made testimony. "You know, you seem to have an excuse for just about every single little problem that Tails managed to dig out."

"You may not believe in it, but that's something that I call coincidence," Espio responded with an annoyed sigh as he crossed his arms in a defensive manner. "Regardless, it is what it is. My lies are hardly worth looking through since they clearly have no connection whatsoever to the murder case at hand."

"You know, I've never seen you act this dense before in all of the cases I've worked on with you," Knuckles responded with a heavy distrustful frown on his face. "You love to act cocky all the time, but this kind of behavior is beyond that. How can you just stand there and say all your lies mean nothing to the overall integrity of this case?"

"And you all have yet to really prove otherwise on that regard," the purple chameleon countered with a raised eyebrow. He was now slowly starting to regain his former cocky demeanor and thus gaining his second wind. "And if you really want to prove me wrong on that, then I suggest you hurry it up. Judging by the time we have left," he said as he stole a quick glance at the clock, "you should really have only enough time to ask me a couple more key questions before the police gets here. I doubt, though, that you'll really be able to get to the true heart of this matter, a matter that does not involve me in any way possible!"

"We'll just have to see about that, Espio," the ebon furred hedgehog countered as he gave him one more hard stare before turning his attention to the two tailed fox. "There have been times where thirty minutes' worth of testimony has uncovered the absolute truth in a situation. And I truly believe that such a feat is doable this time around. Tails, I think it's time for you to work your magic again."

"Uh, okay," the fox said with slight hesitation at how the prosecutor was handing him the reigns. He knew that he was basically an amateur, and Shadow was already starting a good roll with his serious demeanor and questions. So to hear him say that he can take things over now was rather shocking. He figured in the back of his mind that it meant he was gaining confidence in his ability to dig up the truth, but the forefront of his mind had no time to regard it. He knew that they were quickly running out of time and that he would really have to make this quick before their last half hour ran out.

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"If you really felt that what you did before the time of the murder wasn't any of our business, then you would've said so right out instead of creating all these lies," Tails addressed Espio with his arms loosely crossed. "You're a blunt and outright person, so you wouldn't think twice of being forcibly blunt in telling us that. The only reason I can think of as to why you were lying to us is because that conversation you had has something to do with this entire case. Of course, I don't have any proof on the matter," he continued on just as he saw the freelance detective's mouth begin to open in protest. "However, even you have to admit that much is possible under the circumstances you dug yourself into."

"Then why are you bothering me with all these suppositions that you can't even prove?" Espio asked with a secretive smirk appearing on his lips. "If I recall correctly, any and all lies that you have discovered all came about with the help of Shadow here. If he weren't standing here right now, I doubt that you would even have any of these frivolous details to be picking about on me. You're nothing but a sad little boy trying to stick your nose in business that doesn't concern you!"

"Hey, don't you dare talk about my little brother that way!" Sonic quickly countered as he walked up a couple of paces in a threatening manner. Knuckles, despite having an already short temper at how dragged on this was becoming, stood between the detective and hedgehog under the assumption that they were going to start a scuffle. "He's smarter than you can ever hope to get in your entire damned life!"

"And yet he has failed in so many ways to effectively try and connect me to this crime," the purple chameleon cockily countered back. "How is that supposed to prove that he's smarter than me as you so claimed? Just because he's the supposed child prodigy of this century doesn't mean that he's not entitled to be wrong every now and then. This just happens to be one of those unfortunate rare occasions for him."

"I hate to say it right now, but Espio is right on the first half of what he just said," Shadow stated with a heavy sigh, an action noted as unusual for the ebon furred hedgehog to perform. "Even though we've managed to catch him in a couple of lies and make him look bad, that's all that we've really accomplished. They aren't enough to prove anything beyond the fact that he lied. Without any kind of hard evidence linking him to this crime, we've done nothing but dig up things that virtually add up to nothing."

"…I guess we really were just wasting our time here from the very beginning," the two tailed fox responded with a sort of despondency to his words. It was clear that he was running out of ways to attack the other, and the fact that he had now been officially up all night long did not make him feel any better. "Looking back, everything that we've brought up doesn't prove any kind of connection between him and all this. It's suspicious, but suspicions can only go so far without hard evidence."

"I'm glad to hear that you're finally admitting to your mistakes," Espio stated with a triumphant smile appearing onto his face that annoyed the hell out of Sonic. "As I have been saying since the very moment you brought me in here and accused me, I've had nothing to do with last night's murder. And as you can see, the lack of evidence to support your claim is proof enough of my innocence, even if I don't necessarily have a provable alibi keeping me away from suspicion. Of course, alibis aren't everything as far as concrete evidence is concerned, something that you all happen to lack."

"B-but what about you moving in the direction of the stairwell just after midnight?" the cobalt hedgehog refuted in an attempt to stay on the offensive. "The security footage that Shadow obtained proves that you were heading in that direction. That action itself already makes you look suspicious! You haven't explained where you were really heading to then. How do we know that you really weren't just heading up to Silver's office so you could murder Ms. Rose and try to kill Silver at the same time?"

"…I don't think I'm obligated to explain anything like that to you," the purple chameleon simply answered without looking the hedgehog in the eye. Whether he was eager to have this all over with or was afraid that he would be considered lying if he made contact, none of them knew. "I'm sure that you're not going to believe anything that comes out of my mouth unless it's what's already ingrained in your stubborn head. Unless you have evidence that proves exactly where I went after midnight, I'm not entertaining your request that clearly reflects how desperate you are to keep this ragged train of logic moving."

"But you can't just go ignoring the fact that your lies are clearly suspicious in nature!" Knuckles spoke up in an attempt to put his two cents into the argument and try to keep the logical fire burning. "If this were an actual court proceeding, then you would be under heavy doubt and suspicion by the judge."

"Yet last I checked, we're not in a court proceeding. And even if we were, that argument of yours wouldn't be able to keep its footing for even two seconds. In cases such as murder, you need to prove that the accused is the actual perpetrator beyond a shadow of a doubt. There are no ifs or maybes in these delicate proceedings. If you can't fully tip the balance in one direction or the other, then you can't keep on with your original accusation. That is exactly what's happening right now. I'm even sure that the most logical person in this room will agree with me on this?" he added as he turned his attention at Shadow. All the prosecutor did here was let out a low growl in reluctant agreement. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to leave this place now and get some much needed sleep. I hope you don't have any more questions fitting for a desperate man to further waste both yours and my time?"

_Is there really no way to officially tie him to this murder?_ Tails thought as he resorted to quietly staring down the freelance detective in front of him. He refused to answer his question and thus officially end their questioning, but he knew that he was simply stalling and just could not get another advantage over the freelance detective in this. _He shouldn't have any plausible reason to lie this many times to us unless he really was connected. There's just no evidence that can prove something like that. Is this really all that I can do now?_

In the couple of seconds that came along with the sudden silence, everybody stood quietly and said nothing. It was almost as if the very fabric of time itself froze all around them and only they were oblivious to the sudden freeze. At the same time, each one was in their own little world wondering just what was going to happen next after this seemingly heavy defeat. It was not easy for them to swallow, but it seemed that they were going to force it down and admit that they failed drastically.

Sonic was still silently steaming over hearing his little brother being insulted, but he had since sat down on the couch and had his hands in tight fists. Knuckles was sitting right next to him and carefully keeping an eye on him to make sure he was not trying to make another dash attack. However, he was also giving off a deep scowl at the dead-end situation they were all in. Tails was still silently thinking to himself on how he could make a plausible attack without tearing his eyes off of Espio, but even he had to admit that his efforts were in vain. The freelance detective had an unreadable expression being offset off with a calm and triumphant smile. It was clear that he figured he won this hard fought and dragged-on battle of wits. Shadow was leaning against the wall and seemingly deep in thought as to what was going to happen next after coming this far and hearing nothing of damning nature against the chameleon. At least his past actions of the past half hour or so seemed to indicate that he was now siding with Tails' side of the argument. Unfortunately, it seemed as though they have ran out of steam, and they all reluctantly seemed to accept this fact in their own way.

_**End Rebuttal**_

"…Hey, sorry for taking so long with your request, Shadow," a familiarly semi-deep voice suddenly announced from the doorway and tore them all away from their separate little worlds. "Didn't think that I'd be coming into a silent, almost resigned silent room as a form of welcome, though. You can literally almost feel the tension in here. Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and heading right to the freezer."

With a combination of shock and surprise, all eyes immediately turned towards the open doorway and spotted none other than Vector leaning against the doorframe with a smile on his maw. It was indeed a great contrast to the bleak atmosphere that had quickly taken over the entirety of the office after the previous exchange proving to have been nothing but a desperate man's pointless endeavor to an ever elusive truth.

"Vector!" Espio exclaimed in stoic happiness as he flashed a great smile at his friend and partner's appearance. "I didn't expect to see you back up here anytime soon! Everybody here had led me towards the impression that you weren't going to be able to be back to this office before the officers come over."

"I was wondering if you were ever going to get here before time ran out, Vector," Shadow stated with a bit of relief encasing his words while taking a quick glance over at the clock. "You always seem to have the flair of bringing things up to the last minute. Its thirty minutes before our time's up."

"Sorry, but things ended up taking a bit longer than I had anticipated," the crocodile responded with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders as he fully entered the office and made a beeline for the desk without addressing any of the others. He regarded the purple chameleon with a curt nod of his head as he continued on towards the desk. He also gave a small glance to the still unconscious form of Silver leaning against the wall on the floor as he passed by and frowned upon seeing him in the same position he last left him in. "In the end though, I managed to finish just about everything you requested for me to do. And I also managed to get the findings on the two pieces of evidence."

"Wh-what are you talking about, Vector?" Tails asked with a slight stutter, confused at the sudden appearance of the prosecutor and trying to get his mind off of his suddenly cut off thoughts. "When did Shadow make a request for you to do something? And what pieces of evidence are you talking about?"

"Ha, don't tell me you already forgotten all about those two things!" the crocodile exclaimed with an amused chuckle while seemingly ignoring the first part of the fox's question. "It's only been a couple of hours since you handed them off to me. Things must've gotten pretty interesting around here for you to forget about something unknown yet no doubt connected to all this. I'm talking about the White Fragment and Scale you asked me to bring down to forensics as a favor when I was about to leave."

"Did the forensics guys managed to figure something out from it?" Knuckles suddenly asked, clearly remembering the two pieces that had no meaning for any of them at the time. His voice had also changed slightly to reflect the newfound hope he gained upon hearing that they would now reveal their hidden secrets to them.

"Why don't you just read these two sheets and figure things out for yourself?" the crocodile simply responded with a huff as he took out two folded pieces of paper from his vest pocket and handed it off to the echidna now standing next to him. Apparently, they were preliminary reports being that they looked to only be half filled at best. "I'm hope you'll be able to find something interesting from it, because I haven't had a chance to read it yet. And don't ask me for the two actual pieces, because the guys wanted to keep them for further analysis. It took quite a bit of needling and persistence on my end just to have them draft up those two sucky reports, so you better appreciate all the trouble I went through."

Without saying anything, the detective unfolded the papers and quickly began reading the contents. Sonic and Tails soon came over and began reading over his shoulder. Espio simply stood from a distance, idly curious as to what they were reading and subconsciously glancing over at his partner who seemed to have been purposely trying to ignore him. Shadow did not seem in the least bit curious; rather, he seemed to exude an aura about him that hinted that he had an idea as to what was written on it.

"…This one says that the White Fragment found here doesn't seem to have come from anything synthetic," Knuckles summarized the details of the report for all to hear. "There are certain things about it that has the forensics guys saying with great certainty that this is most likely an organic matter of some sort."

"So does that mean it actually came from an actual person?" Sonic asked with both of his eyebrows raised with intrigue at the new information. "Hmm, maybe it came from the murderer sometime during the scuffle."

"It isn't too much of a stretch to think that," Tails agreed with his older brother as he took the paper into his hands and began to read it again. "If we can just figure out who this belongs to, then we'll most likely be able to know who the murderer is."

"And the other report says that the analysis of the Scale actually provided them with a name!" the echidna responded, this time gaining him the undivided attention of everybody in the room except for Vector. "They said they managed to drag out a bit of DNA that wasn't damaged or marred from blood."

"But they couldn't do the same with the horn because the organic material is too dense for the tools they were currently equipped with to extract," the two tailed fox concluded as he looked up from his report. "It says so right here at the end."

"So what's the name they ended up coming up with?" Shadow asked with his arms crossed. His eyes, however, were trained on Espio who was currently starting to look just as nervous as he was when he was caught in his lies. He even began to constantly fiddle around with his horn again with a scowl on his face. "Don't just leave us all hanging with anticipation while time's running out, Knuckles."

"…They said that after conducting a couple of cross-references with the data they already had on file, the DNA on the Scale…could belong to nobody but Espio," the detective responded with repetitive pauses in his sentence as he was trying to process the information in his head. Sonic and Tails both looked surprised and relieved in that their initial thoughts were now back on track; Shadow looked relatively calm despite the slight sheen of amazement shining in his eyes; and Vector simply stood idly by the desk having most likely already read the report before coming up here himself.

"…And exactly what Scale are they talking about here, Knuckles?" the purple chameleon questioned through clenched teeth while keeping his arms crossed to continue his nonchalant attitude. Despite now becoming more flustered than ever, he was not going to let them come to conclusions without a fight. "I don't remember hearing of anything like that except for the one found in the Letter of Request."

"Silver was found with a Scale resting on his hand while he was unconscious," Tails explained in place of Knuckles as he handed the report back to the echidna and continued on with their attack made possible to them by their newly received information. "We had it sent down to the forensics department along with the White Fragment earlier when Vector said he had to go and take care of something. Needless to say, we finally managed to connect you to this crime thanks to the Scale!"

"And how exactly are you proposing to perform such a miraculous feat with such a flimsy piece of evidence?" the freelance detective countered with his nonchalant attitude quickly disappearing and replaced with a heavy frown. "That Scale could've easily just fallen off of my body during the party earlier."

"Then how do you explain the fact that I just said it was first found resting in his hand? I doubt he just so happened to spot that single Scale on the floor and picked it up before being knocked unconscious. The only time he could've gotten his hands on one was when he was struggling with his attacker!"

Instead of answering, Espio simply growled out in anger at suddenly having the tables suddenly turned on him when he first had the upper hand. He was clearly now having a hard time trying to keep himself afloat from the accusation and quickly becoming flustered. It was also evident that he was trying to quickly think up of another suitable statement and failing miserably judging by how his eyes were shifting around the room.

"And speaking of Scales, I think I've just figured out another little lie you presented to us earlier," Tails continued on in an attempt to crowd him with logical accusations and cause him to become flustered. "Of course, I'm referring to the Letter of Request you claimed was sent to you and Vector a week ago. There was a Scale that looked exactly the same as the one found in this office. The fact that it was found between a letter and paper with a bit of dried glue on it tells us that the owner of the scale was the one who created the letter. And since they both look the same, I claim that you were the one to have written this letter under the guise of trying to provide yourself with an alibi for tonight!"

"And how do you plan on proving this rather asinine claim of yours? You're asking for a recipe that'll only lead you to pure disaster!"

"Have you forgotten that we could simply just bring this new scale down to forensics and have them compare it with the one we brought to them earlier?" Sonic countered with a roll of his eyes at how clumsy the freelance detective was suddenly becoming with details. "Just admit it; we've already got you pegged as the one to have murdered Ms. Rose and attacked Silver to the point of unconsciousness. There's nowhere else for you to hide!"

"…That may be the case, but you still failed to explain one little detail. According to what I've heard Shadow discuss with me in terms of Silver's Testimony, he said that he saw his attacker smash his head along the edge of the desk. But as you can see, I don't have a single scratch on me. If I don't have any head injuries whatsoever, then I'm afraid you can't pin me down as the murderer despite the Scale showing you what you want to hear. After all, such a hit to the head would surely leave a mark lasting for quite a while."

"How can you keep coming up with things to get you out of the charge of murder?" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed with absolute annoyance at the situation reflecting in his words. "Everyone here already knows that you're the one who did all this, and we have your Scale found in Silver's hand as ample proof of it!"

"But then he should still be right now suffering from some kind of injury somewhere on his head according to the detective's recollection of his scuffle," Shadow countered with a shake of his head as he seemingly sided with the chameleon on this point. "Espio is clearly not hurt in any way possible. Because of that, it's really hard to create a case against him because of this rather large inconsistency."

"Finally, somebody is seeing things my way in this!" the freelance detective stated with a sigh of relief while fiddling around with his horn. Apparently, he managed to get his second wind because of this statement and beginning to regain his previously deceptively calm and rather cocky demeanor. "You might have half of the claim right, but you can't get anywhere without the other half."

"…But we already have the other half of our argument figured out," Tails suddenly stated with a smile slowly appearing on his face and growing larger by the second. "And I just figured out why you have no visible signs of head damage."

"Wh-what are you talking about here?" Espio growled out as a threatening snarl came onto his face. It was almost as if he were an animal in the wild being chased for the whole day and suddenly trapped up a tree. "You can't possibly find any way to say that I was injured in here without having any kind of visible mark on my head. And in case you haven't noticed, I don't have anything like that on me!"

"That's what you'd like for us to believe, but there has been this one small action that you've been performing this entire time that we never took clear notice of," the two tailed fox responded as everybody else backed off a bit and let the fox work his logical magic. "I don't know if you've noticed this, but you've been fiddling around with your horn ever since we started to question you about your overall connection with the case. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but I'm starting to get an idea from these repetitive actions. Do you mind if we took a look at your horn?"

"Y-you want to look at my horn?" the chameleon stuttered as he visibly stepped back a few paces and unconsciously backed into the wall. His throat visibly moved a bit in an action that meant he was swallowing in reflex. "Wh-what the hell does that stupid thing have anything to do with your idea?"

"If it makes you feel better, I have evidence that can convince you that my idea will end up officially pegging you as the murderer. You see, I want to check your horn for any kind of damage that it has sustained. It's most likely that you hit it on the corner of the desk instead of your actual forehead. That would explain why you have no immediately visible bruises on your head. The horn itself would be the only thing to sustain damage, and if I remember from what I've learned from an anthropomorphic science book, damages to things like horns are almost never felt by the person themselves."

"… … …And you think that you can impress me to the point of confessing with that rather complex piece of knowledge you just spat out?" the freelance detective asked as the corner of his mouth visibly twitched a bit. "So what if I happen to have some kind of damage to my horn? You can't possibly have anything like a piece of my broken horn to compare with that you can claim you found in this office."

"I agree that it would be true under regular circumstances, but I'm thinking that we've already found a piece of your horn in here," Tails responded as he took the forensics report of the White Fragment into his hands from Knuckles'. "This report states that the fragment found in here was most likely broken off due to some kind of impact. It also stated that it was created from organic material. So if you really are innocent in all this, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to ask you to let us see your horn. If there isn't any damage, then we'll forget all about this, and I'll admit to my mistake of accusing you.

"However, if there is a chip, then we'll just compare it with the White Fragment that's still with forensics," he continued on as he saw Espio starting to switch between crossing his arms and leaving them at his side. It was as if he did not know what he wanted to do with them in the current situation. "If they end up matching, then that proves that you were here murdering Ms. Rose while Silver was trying to stop you and shoved you to the table edge in the process. So which is it going to be? Are you going to try and prove your innocence again, or are you finally going to admit to the crime you know you committed?"

Instead of immediately answering the question, Espio simply went in a staring contest with the two tailed fox. It was almost as if he were trying to read his eyes and see if there were any traces of a lie or bluff in his words. After spending a couple of seconds doing that, the chameleon gave out a loud sigh and accompanied it with a low growl.

"… … …You really are as smart as everybody says you are," he finally responded as he simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I've heard of so many different arguments when I testified to the courts, but never have I heard of one so heated and…passionate, especially coming from someone as young as you are. Put on top that you've hardly had any suitable evidence and still managed to get your point across, and you could be in line of being a top criminal inquisitor in the future."

"I take it then that this is going to be your confession to us?" Shadow asked, his voice sounding stoic yet his eyes reflecting the victory that everybody in the room had worked so hard to achieve all night.

"It's a trait of a detective to know when he's been beat. I suppose then that you could interpret what I just said as my confession. I never thought though that I'd be connected to Ms. Rose's murder by a piece of my horn that I just couldn't get a chance to find in here. I knew I smashed it against the table and where it most likely fell, but I couldn't very well go checking with all of you already in here watching. I can't believe that actually unwound everything I've done to keep myself away as the true culprit in this.

"However, don't think that this means you finally got me in your trap," he continued on with a cocky smile returning to his face. Apparently, he managed to come up with a backup plan of sorts. "Just because you all heard my so-called confession here doesn't mean that I'll end up being found guilty when being indicted by the courts."

"And just what do you mean by that?" Sonic asked with a huff of his breath that indicated he figured the other to be merely bluffing. "Any court worth their salt would immediately figure you out to be the murderer in this once it goes to trial. You wouldn't even be able to last half as long as you did in here."

"Just to be clear, I merely 'confessed' to you my crime because you all managed to figure it out. However, once I'm in the courts, you'll most likely be called on as witnesses. If you present your evidence in the same way as you did here tonight, then nobody is going to take you seriously because it's just too flimsy all the way around. For a court of law, you're lacking the essential glue to bind your argument together. So even though you've heard my 'confession' in front of all of you right here, I can easily turn it around in court and say that you all coerced me into admitting it. And without any key evidence, there's nothing any of you can do. In the end, I'll be the one to have the last laugh!"

"Espio, I can't believe that you actually did all this and are still trying to get away with it," Vector piped up before anybody had a chance to argue with the freelance detective. "I don't know what you guys discussed in here because I was gone for the entire time. However, I think I happen to have this glue that you say they need to shut this case."

"Wh-what are you talking about, Vector? I thought you were my friend here. You're supposed to be defending me against these claims."

"I don't go helping people out merely because I happen to know them and feel that they're innocent," the crocodile simply stated as he took out a few pieces of paper from his vest pocket. "Especially when I found something like this in my partner's home."

"What are those, Vector?" Knuckles asked as he tried to get a look at the new pieces of paper and failing miserably from his current position.

"I had a chance to read through them a bit when I was snooping around Espio's house, and I figured out that they were the missing LK-9 Files. They were left lying on top of his desk in his study. He most likely went back home for a bit after he first met you all up here. He probably didn't count on anybody to have come snooping around in his house if he left them all out in the open like that."

"And he has no reason to have those files anywhere in his house unless he really was the murderer!" Tails finished off as he took the papers out of the crocodile prosecutor's hands and began to look them over. However, a small dark red stain caught his eyes on one of the sheets. "Is that blood I see on it?"

"I'm sure that if you did an analysis on it, then you'll see that they're an exact match with Ms. Rose," the prosecutor confidently responded.

"Unfortunately, none of you are going to have the chance to do that," Espio quickly countered with a snort. "I don't know if you noticed this, but Vector ended up breaking into my house in order to get those 'missing files'. Whether or not they were in there remains to be seen. What matters now is that he broke into my house to get them, and that makes those files illegal evidence in terms of this case."

"Don't even think about pulling something like that on us, Espio!" Shadow quickly countered back. "What you don't know is that I hired Vector to break into your home under the employment of a private investigator. I even have a recording of our conversation on my phone as evidence of the verbal contract. Because of that, it makes his actions perfectly legal, and those files and anything else he found to be possibly incriminating in your house can be presented as legal evidence. Sorry, but your 'illegal entry' argument isn't going to work."

"… … …I just have one thing to say to all of you here," the chameleon said in a creepy whispering tone. It was so low that almost everyone did not manage to catch what he had said. Even his body language seemed strange and different from the entire time they were questioning him. He then shouted at the top of his lungs and thus startled everybody in the process, "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!"

And with that loud outburst, he began to punch at the wall behind him in anger and what also strangely seemed to be desperation. Quickly snapping out of their shock from both the sudden outburst and the destructive attitude, Knuckles and Vector quickly approached him and restrained him to prevent him from causing any damage to something or himself. Sonic and Tails simply stepped backwards a bit to avoid getting tangled into the scuffle and just stared at the scene in complete shock.

"…I guess that's as good of a solid confession that we're going to get outside of a court proceeding," the ebon furred hedgehog calmly responded despite having witnessed such an extreme change in Espio's attitude and seeing the others trying to calm him down. "Even a well-seasoned defense attorney couldn't help prove you innocent of murder charges with those stolen LK-9 Files found in your room with a bit of Ms. Rose's blood on them. It looks like your last ditch effort to get out of this and have us take the fall of 'forcing you' to give a false confession has gone with the wind."

Instead of answering back, the purple chameleon continued to thrash around at the two strong bodies that were restraining him. Whether he was trying to find something to hit or just trying to make a quick escape away from his forthcoming punishment, nobody knew. And nobody would ever know the answer to that, because it was just then that a few police officers appeared from the hallway and entered the office. They did not have their weapons drawn, but they looked more than ready for any kind of situation that might arise.

"Is there a Detective Knuckles among you all?" one of the officers asked as he saw the scene in front of him and raised an eyebrow at it. The others simply stood back upon seeing how crowded the office was quickly getting and showed no indication at helping out with the scuffle. "And what the hell is going on around here?

"I-I'm Detective Knuckles!" the echidna struggled to respond as he tried to subdue the still struggling freelance detective, not daring to let even one arm off of him. Even Vector was having a somewhat hard time with the effort, and he is already a rather big and brawny guy to begin with! "We…we already solved the case. Espio here is the one…responsible for the murder! Could you guys _please_ give us a hand here?"

And as if on cue, all of the officers that were already in the office went to the aid of the two. Actually, they practically pushed both detective and prosecutor out of the way and took over the struggle. Being that it was now five officers against one person with mastered ninja skills, it still proved to be a challenge. In the end, they finally managed to put him in handcuffs, although they also ended up cuffing his ankles together because he soon resorted to using his feet to try and break free. All in all, it was a triumphant victory for the police officers and a rather unfortunate and embarrassing loss for the ninja expert.

"Boy, you're telling us that freelance detective is the culprit here?" the officer who had first asked for knuckles asked while his four fellow officers carried a now squirming Espio out of the office and most likely to the Detention Center. "I never thought that he would have his hands in something as dirty as murder. He's helped us out so many times in the past before, so it's a pretty big shock for me."

"Well, the detective and his good friends have managed to solve this case before you officers came," Shadow stated with a nod of his head as he walked up from his corner that he was standing in as a way to avoid all of the chaos. "It was him who asked the police department to hold out on sending you guys in because of a senatorial candidate being murdered and all that. He simply exercised his special right to hold back on calling for backup to document the scene, and he offset it by having another detective check the scene."

"Yeah, the chief told me about it when he deployed us here to the Precinct," the officer explained with a nod of his head before taking in the sight of the dead woman and unconscious hedgehog. "I still can't believe you guys actually stayed up all night and managed to figure out that Espio, of all people, did all this."

"Just make sure that he's kept under careful watch during the entire transport period," the ebon furred hedgehog warned with a stern glare. "If he could kill a military close combat expert like Ms. Rose, then he might be able to pull something on you guys even with both his arms and legs cuffed."

"Don't worry; we've learned to never underestimate him when watching one of his martial arts competitions," the officer reassured them before heading back out to the hallway and accompanying the rest of his fellow officers. He then added quickly, "We'll be back with a couple others to transport the other to the hospital. I just hope he's still alive after going all night without any medical attention."

"Well, that takes care of all this hell tonight," the prosecutor responded with a sigh of relief that he had refused to show in front of the officers. "I still can't believe you guys managed to survive this long before I had to start butting in. Put that on top with the fact that you were up all night, and that really makes it a feat to remember."

"Uh, you were kind of also up all night with us, and you also helped us a bit along the way before we brought Espio in," Sonic stated with an eyebrow raised in confusion before he let out a very loud and rather rude yawn. "If it weren't for you at some points, I don't think Tails would've been able to stand a chance against him."

"Yet it was still him in the end who made use of the information I gave him and steered the investigation down the right path," the ebon furred hedgehog explained as he glanced over at the two tailed fox and gave him an approving nod. "Even though Espio said it in a sarcastic fashion, I believe that Tails here has a great future working with the Precinct as an interrogator when he's old enough to get a job."

"Oh, I don't think I'm that good," the young fox humbly said as he felt a blush coming to his cheeks from the praise and attention he was currently getting. And just like his older brother, he felt a yawn coming up, but he managed to stifle it somewhat and covered what did manage to surface behind his hand. "But I really do have to thank you Shadow for thinking ahead and getting Vector to snoop around Espio's house for anything incriminating. That honestly never crossed my mind the entire time."

"Well, I didn't become one of the best prosecutors in this district simply by pure luck, you know?" the prosecutor said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I also had to learn how to think fast in case I find myself in a corner.

"Anyway, was there anything else that you found in Espio's house?" he continued on as he directed his full attention to the crocodile. "I wouldn't be surprised if he were in something else illegal. He probably is seeing as how he stole a case file that he shouldn't have any reason wanting to keep."

"I suggest that we don't talk about it in front of everybody else here," Vector announced as he left the desk area and moved towards the hallway. "It has to do with the case that you've been working on for a while now. I'm not sure on it, but it might be another big break for you since that confession from Detective Ace in your last case."

"Is that so? Well, why don't we go ahead and talk more about it in my office. I also have a nice pot of coffee to help us get through this. You know how I am with things like this; I just can't let it wait until later."

And without saying anything else to anybody, both prosecutors left the office completely immersed in whatever conversation they were currently having. The other three still left in the office simply looked at their exit with raised eyebrows at how they were just suddenly forgotten and left alone.

"…Okay, that was a pretty random moment there, even for Shadow's standards," Knuckles was the first to break the silence as he scratched his head. He then said while letting out a muffled yawn, "I'm guessing that whatever he's been working on takes priority in his mind over anything else."

"But the least he could've done was maybe thank us for helping him solve a murder here in the Precinct," Sonic responded with a small pout before another loud yawn came around. "As far as I know, we managed to stave off a potential police scandal involving Ms. Rose's death and how the murderer practically walked out of here right under dozens of detectives' noses."

"Look, all I care right now is going home and getting some nice sleep," Tails murmured as he let out another yawn. Not surprisingly, they were all completely tired and probably ready to collapse right there after staying up all night. "I don't want anybody bothering me until tomorrow morning comes around."

"Oh, I'm with you, little bro," the cobalt hedgehog agreed as enthusiastically as he could considering the exhaustion taking over his system. "Come on; let's go home and do just that. And Knux, do you mind staying behind for a bit and make sure that those medical guys end up taking Silver to the hospital?"

"I don't think I really have much choice in the matter," the echidna explained with a tired sigh and shrug of his shoulders. He then added as he walked over to the unconscious Silver, "I still need to stay behind and submit a stupid initial investigation report. Stupid protocol requires us detectives to do it right after discovering a crime, or after the time limit for the delay of dispatching officers to a crime scene is over like in this case."

"Alright, then we'll see you whenever we get the chance to see you," the fox stated with a nod as his older brother walked up next to him.

Just as the hedgehog threw his arms around the two tailed fox's shoulders and was about to head out of the office, he heard his cell phone go off. With a sigh and a light growl of annoyance, he took his phone out of his gloves and checked to see who was calling.

"Hello, who's this?" he asked in a tired voice, hoping that whoever was on the other end would get the hint.

"This is your boss, Sonic," a familiarly somewhat deep voice answered on the other end. After not receiving any reply for a couple of seconds, he added, "Its Dr. Robotnik. Don't tell me you forgot already?"

"Oh, hello sir!" Sonic quickly greeted his boss in as perky of a voice he could muster. "Sorry about that, I just kind of woke up a few minutes ago, and my mind's moving a little slow. Anyway, what are you calling so early for?" he continued on while trying to give both Tails and Knuckles a dirty look as they laughed about his comment on being slow.

"I'm just calling to say that my meeting has ended sooner than expected," Dr. Robotnik explained. "As such, I'm just about ready to board the next flight home. I should be back at around noontime."

"Well, that's good to hear sir. You can rest assured that your office is just as clean as the day you left it."

"And I suspect that those reports I asked for you to finished are also waiting on my desk for me to go over, right?"

"O-of course I finished off those reports," the cobalt hedgehog responded confidently, but his currently panicked face said otherwise. "They're right now waiting on top of your desk for you to read over them as we speak."

"That's good to hear. Well, I'm about to board my flight now, so we'll talk more once I get back."

"Alright, sir; goodbye!" he said before quickly hanging up his end of the call. He then whimpered out, "Damn, I still need to finish those stupid reports Dr. Robotnik wanted me to work on before he left!"

"Well, good luck with that, Sonic," Tails simply replied as he headed out to the hallway without his older brother next to him. "I told you to get those done earlier, and now you have to rush to get them done. I'll see you at home after that."

"Y-you're not going to help me? What kind of a little brother are you?"

"One who wants you to wallow in your own troubles before you get yourself out of them," the two tailed fox simply answered as his body left their view and headed towards the stairwell. He then called out, "I'll be back at home getting some much needed sleep if you need me. Just don't call me to ask for help on those reports."

"Well, it looks like you're going to be having a long day like me," Knuckles stated with fake sympathy as he patted the hedgehog's shoulder. "You best get back to your office and finish those reports. From what I've heard, Dr. Robotnik doesn't like it when he asks you to do something and it isn't finished after ample time."

"Oh, why me?" the defense attorney whined while making loud fake crying noises tone as he brought his hands to his face. "I just want to go home and get some sleep. What did I ever do to deserve all this torture today?"

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence<strong>**:**

Letter of Request: A letter the Chaotix Detective Agency received a week ago from an anonymous person. It was created through cut-out letters, so it's impossible to tell who created it. It requests that they keep tabs on Ms. Rose's every movement. A scale much like the one found in Silver's hand is seen in-between the paper and one of the letters with a bit of dried glue on it. Perhaps it belongs to the creator of the letter?

White Fragment: A small white piece initially found underneath Silver's desk by Sonic. It was sent down to forensics for a full analysis. Despite not having been fully examined yet, a preliminary report has been drafted and handed to Vector. It says that the chip came from something organic in nature. Unfortunately, the DNA on it is hard to decode due to it's dense nature, and the origin of it is currently unknown.

Scale: Initially found in Silver's hand. It was sent down to forensics for a full analysis. Despite not having been fully examined yet, a preliminary report has been drafted and handed to Vector. It says that based on the information in their computer, the DNA found on it belongs to Espio. While not complete with their examination, the forensics team are confident at who the rightful owner is.

* * *

><p>Well, there you have it everybody. This is the end of this chapter. Don't worry, that doesn't mean that it's the end of this story. After all, there is still one mystery that hasn't been revealed or solved yet. Just what is the case that Shadow's been working on that has to revolve around all this secrecy? What exactly is the LK-9 Incident, and what does it have to do with the four of them? So many mysteries left to solve, but they'll be fully revealed in due time.<p>

Anyway, I hope that you liked that little funny I put at the end. For those of you who forgot, Sonic said at the beginning of this case's chapter that he had some reports due for Dr. Robotnik that he didn't finish yet. Now his laziness has come back to bite him in the butt. Looks like he isn't going to be getting his precious sleep any time soon.

I hope again that you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did making it. Don't forget to leave a review telling me if you liked it and how I did. I always read your reviews unless they just sound like pointless flames or flames masked by what is supposed to perceived as constructive criticism. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!


	15. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 1

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter and new case to this story. And when you read the title, I'm sure you'll know what it is this case will be somewhat revolving around. I hope this will be the start to some questions that I've been handing out to you all.

Anyway, this is just a fair warning to you all. This story might take a little while to update. The reason is because I've just suddenly come up with a new story idea revolving around the Kingdom Hearts characters. It's been a while since I've had a random idea that feels like it could work, so I'll be going for it for a little bit. Don't worry; I haven't given up on this story in a long shot. And for those of you curious in reading it when it's out, I'm thinking of naming it, "Scotch on the Rocks". Yeah, it's an interesting name, but the summary on it should explain a little bit why it's like that.

Anyway, that's enough of my rather pointless rant. I hope that you'll all enjoy this new chapter and beginning to a new case. Things are now taking a turn for the serious. Don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading telling me how I did. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories, or maybe even the introduction to my new one, everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He works in Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm office and is currently on track on becoming a full-fledged attorney and escape from fledgling status.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. After his performance in the previous case at the local Precinct, Dr. Robotnik has taken him in as the firm's local on-scene detective.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 1<br>**

"_I'm surrounded by nothing but complete and utter imbeciles!_" a muffled voice on the phone stated with a heavy sigh and a light slam of his fist on his desk. "_I had asked Naeco Eulb all those months ago to try and get that young freak of a fox the capital punishment for murder to prevent any potential threats from flaring up, and he falls to the hands of a complete rookie! How disgraceful can that be for a top-notch thief like himself?_"

"_Well, life can sometimes throw unexpected curveballs to even the most well-trained of people,_" another person on the other end of the line responded in as calm of a tone he could muster in the presence of the other. "_The best of people can sometimes get the most unluckiest moments of their lives at bad times. Either that or he wasn't as good as he claimed to have been on his initial résumé._"

"_And then one of our best moles within the Police Department and Precinct was forced to perform the job of another because said other person had an urgent piece of business to take care of,_" the first person continued to rant as if the other had not said anything. "_I can't believe Detective Ace ended up being so careless with both his girlfriend and cell phone. Doesn't he know that those two don't mix at all, especially when I gave him contacts that were all women by pure coincidence?_"

"_Well, he probably would've been caught sooner or later by her,_" the other tried again to calm the man down. "_According to his testimony during his indictment hearing, he said that Ms. Vulpin was already starting to become somewhat suspicious of his movements. He wouldn't have been surprised if she ended up stalking him to one of his rendezvous points without him knowing of it._"

"_At least then the situation would be different than it was when I purposely tried to keep him away from this assignment. Yet it still somehow managed to end up in his hands! And to top it all off, he was caught by that same blasted rookie attorney who should be wasting away in his college life instead of meddling in adult affairs! So much for trying to get that meddling echidna away from his private investigation of a case that he's restricted from…_

"_And as if to make a further mockery out of me, my one ace in this entire operation somehow managed to get himself accused and charged for murder just yesterday!_" he continued on without showing any signs of stopping soon. "_Espio, my greatest subordinate who knows how to rub people out of a picture with his ninja skills, got the best beaten out of him by that same demented fox I tried to get charged for murder! Intelligent or not, no child should be poking their noses in adult business and acting like they know everything about it. I understood it was a long shot to try and get that rookie attorney on the hook for Ms. Rose's murder by forcing him to come back to the office right after the deed was done, but I still can't believe he failed to kill Silver at the same time!_"

"_…Perhaps he underestimated the time it took for both him to adequately complete the job and when they might have been back. However, I did hear from the case report that I managed to snag a look at that he almost gotten away with it were it not for Prosecutor Vector being hired by Prosecutor Shadow to snoop around his house for evidence and the brilliant mindset that the young fox put in by putting the pieces altogether. So if it's any consolation, he would've gotten away with it all if the meddling fox wasn't in the picture that night despite what everybody else tried to do._"

"_I can't believe that my plans I have been putting into action for two years are quickly being undone by a matter of months by a brat posing as an attorney and his idiotic brat of an adopted brother wanting to play detective! The statute of limitations for the LK-9 Incident will be up in a couple of weeks, and I'll be damned if I'm caught before then._"

"_I wish you all the luck with that then. Last I checked, everybody who's involved with that case is still alive, and half of them are currently looking into it. And Prosecutor Shadow has authority enough to look into those files without having to ask a higher-up. He has a good set of brains in that head of his, and I've heard that he's even come up with a couple of good leads he's currently pursuing._"

"_Then I guess I know who I should have erased next,_" the first man stated thoughtfully after a pause that seemed to be there only for suspense purposes. "_If what you say is true, then he's the one who's as close to the truth he could be than the others are. The good prosecutor's days as a free man are now numbered._

"_However, with somebody as smart as him, I think it only fair to ensnare him with someone of equal or greater intellect,_" he continued on as the other simply listened quietly. "_Of course, I'm talking about myself in these terms. He's a person I can't trust anybody except for myself to handle. After all, I know him very well and how certain weaknesses of his can be exploited to our benefit. I'll handle everything this time around and make sure even that brat of a defense attorney and his twit of a brother won't be able to defend him. They won't stand a chance under my direct might!_"

"_That may be all well and good, but I still suggest that you exercise caution when dealing with them,_" the other man warned in a friendly tone. "_While they both may be young, it should be clear even to you now that they're a force to be reckoned with, especially when they combine their two strengths together in order to come to the absolute truth. I'm sure you wouldn't want that against you seeing as how you're just two weeks shy of being scot free from ever being persecuted as the true perpetrator of the LK-9 Incident._"

"_An attorney with beginner's luck and a preteen fox who doesn't have much recollection of the ins and outs of proper law proceedings can't possibly have anything against my many years of expertise!_" the man responded in a cockily confident tone accompanied with a strong chuckle. "_I've taken care of more people here than they have both combined. I do, however, appreciate your concern for me in this. Then again, I shouldn't expect less from the person whom I regard as my right-hand man in all this._"

"_I'm honored to hear you say that about me, even if it's merely a repeat of what you said so many times over,_" the other person stated in a tone that sounded suspiciously like pride. "_Of course, there's still one other little matter that I want to bring to your attention before we end tonight's contact. It's about our renegade friend._"

"_I don't think you need to be told twice on what needs to be done with him. Find him and make sure that he doesn't live to breath a word about me and my plans to anybody. Kuro Rose already tried to defunct from our little group and intended to reveal all of my plans through her soon-to-be powers as a member of the senate, but nobody defuncts from me and lives to see another day. Make sure our renegade meets the same fate. And besides, how hard can it be to spot a person with Feralisis Syndrome? They basically stick out like a sore thumb! And also do the same to his beloved brother if he chooses to interfere._"

"_As you wish, sir. I'll make sure any and all irritants to your plan are taken care of. You just make sure to be careful when dealing with Sonic and Tails. As I warned earlier, their combined intellect isn't something that you should sneeze at._"

"_I'll keep your consideration in mind when I enact my end of the plans. Now then, it's time for me to hang up and take care of other business that requires my attention. Good luck my dear friend; and I hope to hear of your success in taking care of our renegade the next time we make contact._"

"_And I hope that everything ends up well on your end, too. Don't act too suspiciously, and you'll be safe after two more short weeks. It would be a real shame to come so far and be caught after all this painstaking work._"

And with that little reassurance, the other party hung up the phone just as the first person was about to thank them. With a small sigh, he hung up his phone and began to scribble away on a piece of paper sitting on his desk in front of him.

"_Sonic and Tails,_" he murmured under his breath without once stopping. "_Ever the thorn on my side ever since the day you became involved in that blasted incident along with your currently meddlesome friends. Now you'll all be too preoccupied trying to reverse his fate of being a murderer and waste all of the time you have left trying to find answers. Your tenacity is commendable but futile. Only I will have the opportunity of knowing the whole truth and having escaped from it in the process._ _Ha, ha, ha…!_"

_A week-and-a-half later…_

"Well, it looks like I win again!" Knuckles stated happily as he threw down some cards that were in his hands on the coffee table inside the Dr. Robotnik Law Office. "This is a flush, and it makes it my fifth win today."

"Oh, come on!" Sonic exclaimed angrily as he threw down his cards with a click of his tongue before leaning back on the chair in exasperation. "Nobody can possibly win that many times with hands that are hard to get in a regular poker game. Are you sure you're not trying to cheat me here, Knux?"

"How could I if you were the one who insisted to shuffle the deck every time since my second win?" the detective simply countered with an amused roll of his eyes before picking up a cup and taking a sip from it. "You just have real bad shuffling skills. And I have no reason to be cheating since we're not even playing for money."

"Sonic, are you sure you should be playing cards during working hours?" Tails asked from his position behind him in front of the office window. He was currently cleaning the glass of any smudges with a wad of paper towels and a blue spray bottle of Windex. "I know that Dr. Robotnik isn't here right now and that it isn't everyday Knuckles gets a day off, but shouldn't you have some semblance of professionalism in case a potential client shows up?"

"I'm on my lunch break right now, Tails," the cobalt hedgehog reminded his little brother without turning to face him. He then continued on as he gathered all the cards together, "I'll take care of any clients that might come in then, but I think I'm entitled to slack off a bit when on my break. And besides, you just said that we don't get to see Knuckles during his days off often, so we might as well make the most out of it."

"I can't believe that train of thought actually makes sense," the fox stated with a small sigh and headed towards the kitchen after he was done with the windows. "Then maybe you could take a break from your pitiful card game and help me clean the office a bit. You could always start by straightening up your desk area."

"Hey, my card game is anything but pitiful! I'm just having some bad luck while Knuckles here is somehow cheating his way to a win."

"And I already told you that you were the one who shuffled the deck in our last three games," the echidna repeated with an annoyed sigh before standing up and moving to the kitchen. "You're just being a sore loser, Sonic. I can't believe you don't act this childish while you're in court."

"And that's because I have enough class to know that a courtroom isn't the best of places to be acting like my usual self unless I want to get the boot. Anyway, think you can get me a soda while you're in there?"

"Why don't you get up and get it yourself? I'm not your personal servant. And don't even think about asking Tails to get you one. He's right now busy cleaning up the mess you so graciously left inside the sink."

"Hey, it's not my fault that I accidently burned some of the breakfast I was trying to make for us and couldn't scrape it off. I was just planning on letting it soak through for the whole day before I go washing it."

"Yeah, just like it wasn't your fault that you nearly burned down the office kitchen during the entire process," Tails deadpanned as the sound of running water was heard along with some scraping sounds. "Just consider yourself lucky that there aren't any scorch marks on the wall, or Dr. Robotnik would be down your throat in a heartbeat. I still can't believe you forgot all about the oil you were heating and let it start a grease fire."

Before an angry retort could be heard, the sound of knocking coming from the doorway was heard. Sonic turned his head towards the sound while both Tails and Knuckles poked their head out of the kitchen, one from the doorway and the other out of the window that connected the office and kitchen area.

"I hope I'm not disturbing anything here," a young-sounding voice was heard saying in an apologetic tone. "I can come back later if that's the case."

Standing in the doorway was a cat with fur as pure as the eternal darkness itself. It could possibly rival that of Shadow's minus the red streaks of fur. However, his stunning ruby red eyes seemed to offset that difference. He was currently wearing a red vest that was clearly meant to offset the winter chill that was quickly starting to take over Mobius by storm. His tail swished along the ground lightly as he waited for an answer.

"N-no, we're not busy right now!" Sonic answered a little too quickly that it sounded like he was desperate for some business. "We're right now on our break, but we're still open to accept client offers or simply give out legal advice. I'm afraid that my boss is out at the moment, though, so I'm the only one available."

"Good, because I'm afraid that what I want to talk to you about can't wait much longer," the black cat responded in a rather cryptic fashion as he made sure to close the door behind him after entering. "I hope you don't mind me closing the door, but I'd rather that what I'm discussing with you doesn't attract any unwanted attention."

"Uh, then would you like for my brother and guest to leave the room?" the cobalt hedgehog asked just as said two people exited the kitchen. Tails, being the quick one, was carrying a tray with a tea kettle and a few cups on it to serve the potential client.

"On the contrary, having them around to listen to what I have to say will save me the trouble of repeating it," the other responded, still being rather mysterious about the whole thing as he walked over to Sonic's desk and picked up his phone as if inspecting it. "I apologize in advance for messing with your phone, but I haven't seen this model before."

"That particular model has been out for a few years already," Tails mentioned with masked curiosity at the other's already odd behavior. "Nearly every household has one now that the older models have become obsolete."

"Unfortunately, I happen to be in one of those few households who still have the obsolete models. You can blame my parents on refusing to move into the twenty-first century. Anyway, this isn't what I came here to discuss."

"Yes, you said that you had something you had to discuss with _us_," Knuckles stated so as to get to the point of the matter. He also put added emphasis on the word "us". "That is what you led me to believe when you said you didn't want to go repeating what you wanted to say. That could only mean you wanted to talk to me, as well."

"Heh, you really are a great detective despite your young age, Detective Knuckles," the black cat responded with an amused grin approaching his lips as he saw the look of confusion on the other's face. "In case you're wondering, I've seen your name in the papers a few times along with a picture. I have a good memory for those things, so that's how I knew your name, so don't be too alarmed by it.

"And this must be the young fox that made headlines all those months ago for being the youngest ever to be accused of murder," he continued on as he saw Tails taking a seat on a chair next to his older brother. "I believe your name is Tails, correct?"

"My, that really is a good memory you have," the fox said with eyebrows raised in amazement. "I guess introductions on our end aren't needed. Mind telling us your name so that we're all on the same playing field?"

"Of course," the other answered with a slight chuckle before deciding to take a seat next to Knuckles and reaching for a cup and the kettle. "My name's Salemand Eres. I originally came here in order to make a request of Sonic. However, I don't think I need to know now that my plans have unexpectedly jumped ahead."

"Uh, what are you talking about…Salemand?" Sonic asked after a bit of hesitation and watching the cat pour himself a cup of tea. "We haven't really discussed anything yet, and you've already managed to lose me."

"I'm sorry, but I kind of have that effect on people from time to time," Salemand apologized before blowing at the hot liquid and taking a small sip. "What I meant to say was that I originally came by to ask that you contact Detective Knuckles for me. Seeing that he was already here, however, meant that I could save you the hassle. That's all I meant with that admittedly strange comment."

"And why did you need to ask Sonic to contact me?" the echidna asked with raised eyebrows at the explanation before reaching out for a cup of his own. "You know that you could've just went to the Precinct and asked for an appointment. I would've gotten to you sometime tomorrow."

"Unfortunately, this isn't something that I can have wait until tomorrow. In fact, I might already be too late coming to you for help now," the cat added in a lower tone of voice laced with what sounded like regret. "If anything, this is the best I can do right now in order to help him out."

"What do you mean by that?" the detective asked, immediately putting down his cup and looking at the visitor straight in the eye. Apparently, he was starting to become concern upon hearing a few choice words. "What do you mean by too late? And who exactly is this 'him' you're talking about?"

"You see, I couldn't risk being seen going to your office asking for your help. Don't ask me why that is. It doesn't pertain to what I want to request you of. Needless to say, I needed a third party to contact you in order to not leave a trace about my whereabouts, and I felt that the offices of a rookie defense attorney with connections to you would be my safest bet. After all, nobody would really have great suspicions of me coming in here and asking the help of a defense attorney who everybody believes to have one his cases based purely on luck. In my opinion, they're just biased simply because of your age."

"Anyway, what I want to ask is for your help to find my little brother," he continued on as he took another sip of his tea and ignoring the annoyed look that quickly turned into confusion from the cobalt hedgehog. This time, he took a little bit longer as if he was contemplating whether or not to continue, but his ruby red eyes seemed to portray something else without giving anything away. "He's eighteen-years-old, and I last saw him a couple of days ago in a restaurant in downtown Mobius."

"…You understand that I'm a homicide detective, do you?" Knuckles responded after a short silence. "As much as I would like to help you in this, I can't because it isn't within my power to do so unless it's tied in with a murder of sorts. Are you telling me that he's connected to some kind of murder that I don't know about yet?"

"I know your main area of expertise lies in the homicide department, and I wasn't suggesting that my brother was involved in any kind of unknown murder. And besides, you haven't even heard everything that I had to say yet."

"Let me guess; you wanted to ask Knuckles if he could contact the Chaotix Detective Agency for you so that you can ask them to find your brother," Tails threw out as a guess before he had a chance to continue. "That's the only reason I can think of you wanting to contact him knowing full well that he doesn't perform anything outside of homicide."

"You really are as smart as everybody says you are. I was skeptical when the papers credited you as the main reason why the police was able to nab Espio as the true criminal in the murder of Ms. Rose a month ago. I see now that my skepticism was unfounded. Naturally, you're right in your assumption. I've heard of the Chaotix group's exploits in past paper articles, and I was hoping that they would be able to help me. I've also heard from beyond the grapevine that Detective Knuckles had some connections with them. That's why I wanted to ask Sonic to get a hold of him so that I could ask him to get the leader of the freelance detective group in order to ask for their help in locating my brother."

"…Wow, talk about creating a rather complicated chain of communication just to get to one person," Sonic said in disbelief and a shake of his head after hearing this rather strange explanation of things. "If you don't mind me asking, just what's the reason behind all this practically shady behavior? It kind of makes me inclined not to trust you."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Sonic," Salemand simply replied with a shrug of his shoulders before moving to refill his now empty cup. "However, my reasons for doing so have nothing to do with the initial reason as to why I'm here. I promise you though, that I do not intend to bring trouble with this request. All I have in mind right now is to find my little brother and make sure he's okay."

"… … …Give me a moment while I go ahead and call Vector," the echidna said after a long pause and a sigh as he got up and took his cell phone that had been lying on the coffee table all this time. "I can't make any promises that he'll agree to help, though."

"As long as you can get them through to me, that's all I can ask for," the cat replied with a smile as he got up and took out a cell phone of his own from his vest pocket. "If you don't mind, however, could you call him on my cell? I want there to be a number left in the call history so that I can have direct contact with him and not go through with this again."

"I guess that is a good idea," the detective stated as he put down his phone and took the other. "You might not be this lucky to have both of us available and in the same place to help you out like this."

"Speak for yourself on that. It was a headache just to come up with this convoluted idea so I could avoid being traced."

"You can go ahead into the kitchen if you want some more privacy," Sonic suggested as he pointed to the aforementioned room.

With an agreeing nod, Salemand took his phone back after Knuckles was done dialing Vector on it and moved into the kitchen for more privacy.

"…Is it just me, or does Salemand seem a bit…interesting to you guys?" the cobalt hedgehog asked in a whispered tone once the black cat was out of sight.

"If by interesting, you mean suspicious and somewhat untrustworthy, then yes," the echidna responded with a nod of his head as he sat down and picked up the deck of cards that had sat forgotten. He then added as he began to mindlessly shuffle them, "Nobody in their right mind would go through all this trouble like he has just to get into contact with one person. He says it doesn't have anything to do with the reason of his visit, but I can't help but wonder if that's really the case."

"Well, you can always ask Vector later about what they were talking about," Tails suggested with a shrug of his shoulders as he poured himself his first cup of tea ever since he prepared it. "Sure, there's all these confidentiality between client and detective, but he should be able to bend the rules a bit if you tell him about his suspicious behavior here."

"And that's what I intend to do once he gives me back my phone and leaves this office. Hmm, perhaps I should try my hand at a missing person's case myself. Maybe I'll be able to figure something out about this Salemand Eres while I'm at it. That and I haven't worked with Vector on a case for a while, so this should be a good excuse to do so."

A couple of seconds later, they saw Salemand exit the kitchen with Knuckles' phone in hand and closed. Apparently, he was already done with his phone call.

"Thank you for letting me use your phone, detective," the black cat thanked the other as he threw the phone over to the echidna who caught it with little effort. "I'm glad that my efforts here have paid off. I just hope that my little brother is tapping into his instincts and surviving against those guys."

"Speaking of which, I don't believe you ever told us the name of your brother," Tails asked while purposefully avoiding the most obvious question any regular person would have asked. The reason he did so was because he figured that the cat would not tell him who was chasing after his little brother even if his life depended on it. "Think you could give it to us? That way, we'll be able to call Vector and give him new leads if we hear of him."

"…I guess that could work," he responded with a sigh after a moment's pause. "Then again, more hands out there helping to search for him would increase my chances of seeing him again. Alright, my brother's name is… Leucis Kruger. He's a lion, but don't think that he's like any of the others. He's unusual in that his fur's pure white. He also has a rare condition that really makes him stand out."

"And what is it?" Sonic asked just as Salemand was making his way towards the door in preparation to leave. "Does he have some kind of mental illness like autism or something else that makes him act weird?"

"Excuse me, but my brother is hardly mental!" the cat angrily responded as he turned around to face the cobalt hedgehog in the eye. "For your information, he happens to have a rare genetic mutation known as Feralisis Syndrome. If you don't know what it is, then go and look it up on the internet!"

And with an angry huff of his breath, the black cat exited the office and slammed the door behind him. All three reacted to it by wincing, all surprised that the wall was not cracked in any way judging by how hard the door was slammed.

"…You know, you really ought to try and use some tact when talking to people, Sonic," Tails replied with an aggravated sigh as he took the tray with the cups and kettle put back onto it and brought them back into the kitchen. "Honestly, don't forget that you're not just representing yourself but also Dr. Robotnik and the entire law firm in the process. You don't want to give this place a bad reputation."

"Seriously, you should try to employ some of your seriousness tactics that you use when in the courtroom," Knuckles added with an amused smirk before opening his phone again and most likely calling Vector. He then said while the phone was most likely ringing, "I still don't understand how you managed to pass the oral portion of the bar exam with the kind of attitude of boundless energy you have."

"What did I do wrong here?" the defense attorney innocently asked with a shrug, clearly oblivious to how he had just insulted Salemand and not understanding the advice his brother and best friend was giving him. "I was just asking him what kind of sickness his brother had so that we could better identify him. Is that really a crime around here?"

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><p><strong>New Profiles:<strong>

Salemand Eres (from salamanders): A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.


	16. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 2

Hello everybody! Here's a long awaited update to this story that I'm sure all of you have been waiting ever so patiently for me to update. I'm sorry to you all for taking a long time to make this new chapter. A lot of things have been happening on my end. For the most part, it's been college and constantly getting new ideas for stories that I just have to write down before I forget about it or it explodes out of my head. With that aside, at least I managed to get this out for you all to read.

Just to say, I probably won't be updating this story as frequently as I used to before my unfortunately long hiatus moment. That's because I'm trying to concentrate more of my time on my college work and recover from my unfortunate status as academic probation. Oh well, one can only roll with the punches and make it work with you instead of against you. Let's just hope that this year will be enough to help me get out of my educational slump.

Anyway, that's enough about my personal rant that I'm sure all of you didn't come here just to hear. Let me hurry up and get this chapter out to all you ever faithful and patient readers. I'll go ahead and put down the stuff that were on the last chapter on top up here. After all, you along with me probably already forgotten what has been collected in terms of evidence and profiles, even though it probably wasn't much since that was only the first chapter.

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He works in Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm office and is currently on track on becoming a full-fledged attorney and escape from fledgling status.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. After his performance in the previous case at the local Precinct, Dr. Robotnik has taken him in as the firm's local on-scene detective.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

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><p>And that's it with that. Now I'll let you all go ahead and read this chapter. I must say that it's shorter than my other ones, but I couldn't really think of anything else to add to this chapter in terms of information. Then again, that means I'm just as much in the dark about how this story is going to end just as much as you. So that means I better hurry and finish up the next chapter for you all to read. Until the next update to this and any of my other stories everybody!<p>

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><p><strong>Chapter 17: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 2<strong>

After their rather strange visit from Salemand Eres, Sonic officially ended his lunch break and went to his desk to work on some papers. Tails was busy picking up the dishes and bringing them into the kitchen while Knuckles continued to sit on the couch shuffling his cards and enjoying his day off.

"Do you really think this Salemand guy can be trusted?" the cobalt hedgehog asked as he picked up a pen and started to skim through the papers on his desk. "I can't help but feel that there's something off about him what with how he said he tried so hard to keep the fact he called the Chaotix Agency a secret. I mean, what kind of sane person would go through all that tedious trouble just to call one agency?"

"Someone who has a lot to gain and everything to lose," the red furred echidna responded with a huff of his breath without stopping his card shuffling. "If not that, then we were just dealing with an insane person who loves to make everything harder than it needs to be. Either way, he managed to get what he wanted in the end."

"But couldn't you have at least held him from leaving because of his suspicious behavior or something like that?" the defense attorney questioned without looking up from his work. "I mean, you are an officer of the law with the right to do that. He was definitely reeking some kind of suspicious air."

"I don't make it a habit to be wearing my detective's badge when I'm off-duty," the detective simply countered before he started putting the cards on the table in a formation similar to solitaire. "With that said, I don't really have the authority to be holding him unless he was doing something illegal and I got to make a citizen's arrest."

"But you could still ask Vector for what he was requested for, can't you?" Tails asked as he finally left the kitchen after cleaning the cups. "He's technically the only one who can tell us something that might explain Salemand's behavior."

"Look, all I know is that this isn't concern any of us. We should just move on and pretend that none of this happened. …But I suppose I could ask Vector for the details whenever I happen to run into him," Knuckles added with a roll of his eyes after a couple moments of silence and feeling two pairs of persistent and inquisitive eyes bearing down on him as he played his card game. "I can't guarantee anything on that since there might me some kind of client confidentiality thing being enforced on this."

"Hey, all we ask is that you at least try and ask him," Sonic stated with a smile apparent on his face as he picked up a stray piece of paper that flew off his desk. "And I think we have a right to know about what he wanted since he practically pulled us into his little communication game of cat and mouse."

"Well, he did say that he was looking for his brother who happened to have Feralisis Syndrome," the two tailed fox recapped as he plopped down next to Knuckles and watched him quickly lose his first Solitaire game and resetting the game. "From what I've heard, it's a rare genetic disease that's only had its name for the past decade. Apparently, it only occurs in anthropomorphs like us in that it causes them to be born walking on four feet like an actual animal. That's thankfully the only thing physically wrong with them, but it does make it near impossible for those afflicted with this to function in everyday life without having to be dependent on someone else."

"Yeesh, that sounds pretty bad for those guys," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a frown before momentarily stopping in his work. "I guess I can see why Salemand was so worried about where his brother's at. He probably can't do anything for himself and only has him to rely on for everything."

Before any of them could get a chance to add anything else to the conversation, a cell phone was heard ringing. The detective quickly put down his cards and reached into his brown vest pocket where his cell was ringing away without a care in the world.

"Knuckles here," he greeted whoever was calling on the other end of the line in a sort of disinterested tone. "If this is about work and just can't wait until tomorrow, then you're just wasting your time since I'm on my day off and could care less."

"Uh, are you sure you should be talking to the other person like that?" Tails asked with a raised eyebrow at the echidna's choice of words.

Instead of responding to it, the other seemed quite immersed with the conversation coming from the other end. After all, he did not say anything else after making that rather rude statement and had on a look of seriousness that replaced his earlier laid back one.

"…Something tells me you're not kidding me about this," he finally responded after spending almost half a minute quietly listening. This caught the attention of both Sonic and Tails as they stopped what they were doing and listened to their end of the conversation. "How the heck did this happen? …Of course I'll help you, but don't you need someone else's help more than mine right now? …Alright, I'll make sure to get them there before four today. Anything else you want me to do while wasting your only regulated call on me? …I'll try my best, but I can't guarantee much for tomorrow through a one-man job kind of deal you're asking me to try. I'll try to catch you tomorrow in court."

"Did you just say court?" Sonic asked with interest lined in his words. "Don't tell me you actually accepted a job right after you said you don't work during your days off. It must've been someone important to you in order to bend one of your own rules."

"Now's not the time for small talk," Knuckles responded bluntly before putting his cell phone back into his vest pocket before packing up his cards and returning them into their rightful box before packing it into his picket. "I really got to get some investigating down before court time tomorrow. And I suggest that you two make you way to the Detention Center right away. You only got about a couple of hours before they close. Just ask the attendant there for more information when you get there."

"Aren't you going to tell us who called you at least?" Tails asked before he saw the echidna quickly get up and walk towards the door. And before he could ask anything else, he along with his older brother were met with the sound of the door opening and then quickly closing with a light slam.

"Well, talk about taking a quick exit," the hedgehog said with a sigh before standing up and pushing his chair in before taking his Attorney's Badge off from his desk. "Knowing Knuckles, this is probably something really important if he actually went out of his way to cut his day off short and start working. And by how he asked us to go to the Detention Center, he probably figures that there's something we can help him out with."

"And how are we supposed to know what to do once we get there?" the two tailed fox wondered as he followed his brother's lead and took a blue jacket off of a nearby coat rack and put it on. "He didn't really give us a lot to go on in regards to that except to ask the attendant there about something."

"I guess that's the only way we're going to be getting any kind of answers about what Knuckles wants us to do here. Let's hurry up and get there before they close. It sucks that they have some weird regulations in that they have to close at four exactly. I mean, just who in this world is free to visit people before then besides attorneys like me? It honestly doesn't make any sense at all."

As he continued on with his grumbling that was more to himself than to Tails, the two made their way outside where they quickly hailed a taxi that would take them to the Detention Center. It was a rather uneventful ride except for the small talk they made, but that made the trip all the more quicker.

Once they arrived at their destination, they happily paid their fare before exiting and quickly entering the Detention Center. They had managed to steal a glance at the cab's internal clock and saw that it was just a few minutes before three. While they still had just over an hour's worth of time to do whatever they had to do in there, they were not eager on the thought of gambling their time like that. And so, they both entered the building they were somewhat familiar with from when they first came in under the guise of being Knuckles' defense attorney when he was being accused of murder.

"Excuse me, but we've heard that there's something here for us to do," Sonic asked the secretary once they both were at the desk. "Did anyone ever mentioned the names Sonic and Tails and saying they'd be here soon?"

"Go to detention room number three," the woman, who was different from whom they first talked to on their earlier visit, bluntly responded in a bored tone without looking up from her paperwork. She then added as she quickly rummaged through her purse that was on the desk and pulled out a small mirror, "The person in there has been hogging that room waiting for you two to arrive. I honestly don't know why this prisoner gets to do that when others can't, but I suppose that isn't for someone of low standing like me to know. Just make it quick since I was forced to play messenger woman for you two."

"Uh, thank you, miss," Tails thanked with a forced smile as he tried to sound polite about the whole thing. The only thing he received as a response was a yawn before they quickly walked passed her. He then said in a low whisper, "Geez, something's definitely eating away at her. Glad we didn't have to deal with her too long. But who is it that wants to meet us in the detention room?"

"We'll find out when we get there," Sonic responded with a shrug of his shoulders as they continued down the hallway to the room where they were told to go. And it was not a couple of seconds later before they both arrived at detention room number three.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd get here so quickly," a familiar voice greeted them with some semblance of shock in his voice right when they entered the room. "I guess that just means there's more time to talk to you about this."

"I-Is that you, Shadow?" the cobalt hedgehog asked in surprise once he was able to see just who was it that had summoned them to this place. His thoughts were confirmed when his eyes rested on a pair of ruby red eyes looking sternly back at him from beyond the glass separating the room into two. "What the hell are you doing behind that glass? Don't tell me you got yourself in trouble."

"Well, I'm definitely not on this side because seclusion feels more comfortable than freedom," the ebon furred hedgehog responded bitterly as the defense attorney and his little brother both took their respective seats with shock still written all over their faces. "I'm guessing then that Knuckles didn't tell you that I somehow managed to get myself arrested today. Then again, I did tell him to do some investigating into the murder I'm being charged for, so he was probably in a rush when he told you two to come here."

"Did you just say you're in here because you're suspected of murder?" Tails asked, this time his turn to sound shock at the sudden revelation. "How in the world did someone like you manage to get dragged into something like that?"

"If I could've provided the police with an alibi that was both believable and concrete, then I would still be free instead of being trapped in here like some common criminal. Now would you two stop asking me things that are stupid obvious? You know better than anybody else how much I hate it."

"Hey, I think we're more than entitled to be asking you these questions!" the defense attorney countered with a frown before crossing his arms. "This definitely wasn't what we were expecting when Knuckles told us to get here as quickly as we could. You're the last person I'd expect to see behind bars!"

"Look, we're right now wasting time with this pointless argument!" the two tailed fox butted in, quickly recovering from the shock at seeing the prosecutor currently in the custody of the law rather than serving it and trying to steer the conversation back to its original path of logic. "We need to start getting to the point. It's almost three, and that means we only have an hour left to be asking you about what's going on here."

"I suppose you're right, Tails," Shadow responded with a sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose as if to stave off an oncoming headache. "You need to at least hear my side of the story if you hope on ever having a chance to defend me in court. But before I tell you, there's something that I have to ask. Will you be willing to serve as my defense attorney in court tomorrow, Sonic?"

"Of course I'm going to be defending you!" Sonic immediately answered with a firm look. "As if I'm going to leave you to just fend for yourself! Just tell me what I need to know about this murder from your point of view."

"Then let me start off by telling you what I'm being held for," the ebon furred hedgehog said as he fiddled with the edges of his white gloves. "I was unfortunately at the wrong place at the wrong time. I was taking a morning walk at around seven by the docks when it happened. I noticed one of my coworkers ahead of me talking in kind of hushed whispers with someone. I couldn't tell exactly who it was since it was pretty foggy. And before you say anything about it, I recognized it was my coworker out there by the way he talked. He had the bad case of the stutters, but he didn't let that get in his way."

"Do you think you could give us his name?" the cobalt hedgehog asked as he listened intently to the explanation.

"I don't see any reason why you should know. It's not like it's of any overall importance unless he had some kind of known past history of wrongdoing. Anyway, I didn't even get a chance to step closer to them before I heard the sound of a gun going off twice. About ten seconds later, I heard the sound of something heavy falling into the water along with something metallic falling the concrete before I heard someone running away."

"What did you do after all that?" Tails asked while keeping his hands in his jacket pocket so as to prevent them from fidgeting around nervously.

"As much as I hate to admit it, the whole thing shocked me pretty bad. I don't remember too much about it. I do remember my feet taking me to where the two were talking earlier and felt my feet kicking at something. Looking down, I saw a black gun staring right at me. I don't know what exactly what I was thinking then, but I picked it up with my bare hands as if I were possessed by something."

"And that's why the police ended up arresting you for the murder?" the attorney surmised with a thoughtful pause so as to allow the details to mill around in his mind. "With just the fingerprints for them to go on, it doesn't sound like a concrete way to be offering excuses to arrest people."

"And that's why witnesses exist in this world for the sake of granting clarification to situations such as this," Shadow added with a huff of his breath. "Apparently, there was a jogger nearby who also happened to have heard the shots. I remember being dragged out of my shocked state by the sound of a shrill scream. The next thing I knew, I saw her on her cell phone frantically calling the police and saying that she heard shots and saw me with a gun in my hands. Knowing that I was already in big trouble, I simply put the gun back down and waited for the police to arrive and question me. My only guess that they ended up arresting me is because of what the witness told them. And don't even ask me about what she said, because there's no way I could know about it."

"And I'm guessing you don't even know this witness's name," the two tailed fox added with a shake of his head at the loss of being able to question another person involved with all this. "Do you at least know where she might be at right now? There might be a chance we can meet her and ask some questions."

"She's most likely being questioned at the Local Precinct," the prosecutor responded without hesitation. "Because of that, they're not going to let you go in there unless you're a detective assigned to the case. That means you'll probably have to hear her side of the story during court tomorrow.

"And that's all I can tell you right now," he finished up with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't have any more facts about this case, and you know how I don't like going on suppositions unless there's some kind of backing to it. Can I count on you to figure out the rest of this puzzle and get me out of this mess, Sonic?"

"Again, there's no need to be asking me to be your defense attorney," Sonic responded in a resolute tone before taking a piece of paper next to him that was meant to be filled out for attorney's representing their clients. "I'd be defending you even if you flat out refused my offer. I just wish that you were more helpful in giving us some more information to work with, but I guess we can always get more through testimony tomorrow."

And with that in mind, the cobalt hedgehog quickly signed the paper that officiated him as being Shadow's defense attorney. Tails was busy being quiet and thinking about what they had just heard from Shadow's side of the story on why he was being suspected of murdering a fellow coworker of his. Unfortunately, there just was not much to go on at this point, and their only way to move forward with this with the conditions laid out before them was to wait until they got to court tomorrow. Talk about leaving things to the last minute…

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><p>Well, I hope that you all ended up liking this chapter as much as I had making it. So now Shadow's the one being accused of murder. And to top it all off, they don't have a lot of information to work with this time around and have to rely on what they hear in court. As I said in the last sentence, talk about leaving these things to the very last minute.<p>

Anyway, there is one new evidence that appeared here in this chapter that I didn't mention in the main story. And I'll post it right under this right now.

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

**New Profile:**

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old prosecutor who doesn't like nonsense and is childhood friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He's currently being held by the police under suspicion of murdering one of his coworkers at the Mobius Docks.

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><p>And that's it for the evidence and profiles. For those of you who remember from the last chapter, I put in Salemand Eres to throw in more mystery to this story. I promise that he'll be making another appearance soon, but now's not the time for him. After all, I think the attention needs to be concentrated on this current problem right now. At least they have Knuckles investigating the case as advised by Shadow when he called him. Just how are they going to get out of this mess now?<p>

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto your next story to read. I always read them and take them into consideration. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here everybody!


	17. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 3

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. I know what most of you are probably thinking. I just said not two days ago that I won't be updating this story as frequently as I used to be able to before my long hiatus moment. Let's just say I lied for this chapter. I couldn't get this one out of my head, and I just had to bring it out for you all to read.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this new chapter. They're now in court and trying to figure out how to get Shadow out of the accusation that he murdered one of his coworkers in a foggy morning. Just how are they going to do that with not a log of information to go on?

Well, here's the evidence and profiles from the last chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story. I always read them and take it into consideration provided they are constructive criticism or just regular praise and not flames. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He works in Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm office and is currently on track on becoming a full-fledged attorney and escape from fledgling status.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. After his performance in the previous case at the local Precinct, Dr. Robotnik has taken him in as the firm's local on-scene detective.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old prosecutor who doesn't like nonsense and is childhood friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He's currently being held by the police under suspicion of murdering one of his coworkers at the Mobius Docks.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 3<strong>

When the next day came around, everything seemed to have happened in the blink of an eye. No sooner had Sonic and Tails arrived at the courthouse were they suddenly assaulted with a certain kind of tension floating around in the air. It hardly affected them in anyway, but its presence was more than enough to give one a slight chill down their spine. Whatever the reason was to this strange air was left undiscovered by them, however, as the court bailiff immediately ushered them both into the courtroom where the legal battle was to take place for the case against Shadow today.

"Uh, do you really have to rush us in here?" Sonic asked once they had arrived at their assigned desk. Even his little brother seemed speechless to suddenly being rushed in place as if they had arrived late. "It's not like we're late or anything like that."

"You obviously don't know about how the prosecution for this case is," the bailiff simply said once he noticed the two were in their correct positions and threw a quick glance at where Shadow was to sit as defendant. "He's probably the greatest that ever lived in Mobius's history of law. Except for one certain case that never ended with a ruling because of an unfortunate incident, he's never lost a case in his entire thirty years of working."

"That's impossible!" Tails exclaimed as the people started to file into the courtroom. "Nobody could possibly win every single case from the day they started. Not unless there was some kind of forging taking place."

"Trust me when I say that many have suspected him of forging evidence in the past," the bailiff said in a whisper as he watched the people calmly taking their seats and preparing to listen in to the court proceedings. "However, all accusations against him have gone unfounded for lack of evidence of any kind of foul play in court. But the fact that he's convicted so many for the wrongdoing they were accused of, he's garnered some kind of immense respect amongst everybody in the justice system."

"Yikes, he sounds like an absolute law shark!" the cobalt hedgehog groaned out as the bailiff simply shrugged his shoulders and left to take his position next to the judge's bench. "How the heck am I supposed to defend Shadow against a ruthless man like him?"

Before he could be granted any kind of calming suggestion from Tails, the outer doors suddenly opened and in came another hedgehog who seemed to be secreting a certain air of tension that both boys had been feeling the moment they had entered the courthouse. His fur was quite dark with hints of dark purple giving it an even darker look. It was also quite ragged and seemed to reflect his age when his very walk and stance seemed to say otherwise. His eyes were green like Sonic's, but they held a sort of sickly quality to it.

"So this is the great defense attorney and his young partner I've been hearing so much about," the old hedgehog responded in a strong and deep tone as their eyes contacted for the briefest of moments. He then said more to himself out loud as he reached the prosecutor's desk, "Must I really waste my intellect on an attorney who's still wet behind the ears? This'll hardly prove to be a challenge today."

"_He's_ the prosecutor?" Sonic whispered to his little brother as he could not help but stare at the man who was still exuding this unnerving aura about him. "The very air he breaths out just screams nothing but evil! How am I supposed to work under such an intimidating aura bearing down on me?"

"J-Just make sure you don't get distracted on the facts and stay on the offensive whenever you can," Tails simply suggested with a shrug of his shoulders just as they heard the sound of the Judge's door opening and saw him approach his seat. "We'll worry about him later. Let's just listen to what the Judge has to say."

"Court is now in session!" the Judge announced with a pound of his gavel the moment he sat on his seat. Everybody in the room immediately fell quiet and took their seats. "Is the defense ready to present their case?"

"The defense is ready, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog responded confidently as he stood tall against the negative energy quickly filling the room. He then added mentally, _I'm lying when I say it, but I can't really say anything else on the matter, can I?_

"And I suppose it's redundant to ask, but is the prosecution ready?" the old man asked as he set his attention to the prosecutor on the other side of the room.

"You say it's redundant, yet you still bother to ask the question," the prosecutor simply responded with a cocky half-smile and shake of his head. "Since when have I ever not been ready to uphold my end of a case argument?"

"I suppose I can only translate that as a yes when coming from you. Very well, we'll be looking over the case against Prosecutor Shadow Hedgehog today. Do you mind giving us the main details, Prosecutor Mephiles?"

"I'll be more than happy to," the prosecutor now known to be Mephiles responded in his strong tone before looking down at one of his papers he had neatly set before him. "The defendant, Prosecutor Shadow Hedgehog, is accused of having murdered his fellow coworker, Prosecutor Flora Mae, at the Mobius Docks yesterday. He then attempted to dispose of her body in the Mobius River, but the current had been dead since the beginning of this week and was easily dragged from the bottom of the river by authorities."

"Was an autopsy report conducted and completed before the start of today's court proceedings that showed how and when Ms. Mae died?" the Judge asked after hearing the short cap of what the case was revolving around.

"Thankfully, they managed to complete the process just before I was to make my way here," the prosecutor stated as he took a document in his hands that was presumably Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report. "They concluded that she was shot in the chest by a bullet and had fainted as a cause of it. With that said, it wasn't the bullet itself that had stolen her life. Rather, it was the fact that she was dumped into the water that ended up doing her in. She had drowned from the result of being shot and shocked to unconsciousness."

"Hmm, such a sad way for anyone to die. The court will happily accept the autopsy report as evidence. And I suppose that it was Prosecutor Shadow who has something quite damning that ties him to the murder?"

"Well, I'm sure he isn't sitting in the defendant's chair simply because he wants to," Mephiles countered with a snort of his breath. "However, before we go into the details of how Shadow was brought in as the main suspect, I would like to reveal to the court the scene of the crime through the eyes of a detective who was the first responder on the scene. I summon Senior Detective Silver Hedgehog to the stand!" he commanded in a sure tone.

"The request is acknowledged!" the Judge announced with slight hesitation at the force used upon the calling of the witness. It was almost as if the prosecutor was taking control of the entire courtroom simply by the power of his vocal chords alone. And this left Sonic on his end starting to sweat a bit. "The detective will now take the stand."

"Looks like we're finally able to get some information on the crime scene now," Tails whispered to his older brother as they saw Silver walking up to the stand to see his turn to testify in front of the court. "Guess we can only use this time to get more information since we don't really have anything to even counter someone of his profession. Let's just hope he spews out something useful for us to use later."

"If there even is a later for us after this," Sonic responded somewhat dejectedly as the negative aura was starting to take its toll on him.

"Senior Detective Silver," the Judge began once the silver furred hedgehog was situated on the witness stand. "You were the first detective from the Local Precinct called onto the scene in order to investigate the incident. Is that correct?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Silver simply responded as he sounded like the professional he was supposed to be as a senior detective. He seemed to have recovered for the most part from his assault from a month ago that left a senatorial candidate dead. It was almost as if nothing had happened to him if you only took a quick glance. "I've also been assigned to take charge over the initial investigation."

"Can you please provide the court with testimony regarding the scene of the crime as you remembered it when you first arrived?" the old man asked with a light bang of his gavel in order to officiate the request turned command. "I feel that we'll be taken out of the dark once we've all heard some of the details."

"Then allow me to guide you all out of this dark maze," the detective simply responded before flashing a quick glance at Sonic and Tails with eyes that pleaded with them to get any and all information they could get out of his recollection.

"As if this were even a maze to begin with," Mephiles stated haughtily while waving his hand over his bangs as if the entire proceeding was nothing but a chore he was obligated to attend. "I'm sure the defense and his little partner will agree with me once they've heard the testimony."

_God, I already hate this guy before we even got to the cross-examination,_ the cobalt hedgehog growled out mentally as he tried to ignore the comments and pay attention to the detective's recollection of the scene.

_**The Initial Investigation  
><strong>_

We received a call about a reported shooting at the Mobius Docks around seven in the morning that day. The woman calling the incident in sounded quite hysterical over the phone, but we managed to understand from her garbled explanation that something had just taken place. Being the one to have received the call, I immediately dispatched a small group to check the area along with myself. Once there, we saw the witness leaning against the railing as if she were close to fainting. Prosecutor Shadow was simply standing next to a gun that was lying on the ground and looking stoic as ever about the whole thing. We questioned them both about what had occurred. After hearing both their statements and collecting the evidence at the scene, we arrested the prosecutor under the suspicion of murdering his coworker, Prosecutor Flora Mae.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"My, that was quite a detailed explanation about the crime scene," the Judge stated after the testimony was finished. "It definitely isn't a fluke that you're one of the youngest senior detectives in Mobius's history."

"Save your awestruck amazement for when we're conducting something other than court, Your Honor," Mephiles quickly objected to the Judge's sudden tangent to another subject. "The only thing that should be on your mind is to keep this proceeding moving and how to judge your ruling accordingly."

"S-Sorry about that, Prosecutor Mephiles," the Judge actually stuttered upon having his mistake being addressed and objected to. He then said with a clearing of his throat, "Mr. Sonic, the ball's in your court now."

"Yes, Your Honor," Sonic responded, inwardly surprised at just how much influence the prosecutor had over the entire courtroom in order to be able to talk to the judge like that. Things did not seem to be getting any easier anytime soon.

"Don't let him intimidate you, Sonic!" Tails whispered in silent cheer upon seeing his older brother slightly shaken up by the show of power. "Just stick with the facts and go with it like it was just another ordinary case."

"Boy, you sure know how to cheer me up, you know that?" the cobalt hedgehog replied back in a sarcastic tone before putting his full attention to the task at hand.

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Detective Silver, there are a couple of questions that I want to ask you with regards to the phone call that led you to the Mobius Docks," Sonic started off with his opening question after taking a deep breath. God, he felt so much like a rookie on his first case again with such a foreboding presence watching him with a piercing gaze from across the room. "Could you tell us exactly what the woman said on the phone that led you to believe that you had to dispatch officers to check the situation?"

"Objection, Your Honor!" Mephiles quickly countered before Silver even had a chance to begin answering the question. "This line of questioning holds no importance whatsoever to the case. What does it matter what she said during those undoubtedly panicky moments for her? The main point here is that the detective saw fit to report it and dispatch some officers to check up on things. End of story."

"Objection sustained," the Judge quickly agreed without any argument whatsoever before pounding down his gavel. "I suggest that you try another line of questioning that pertains to further advancing the case, Mr. Sonic. I will not be tolerating any needless questions with no bearing to the advancement to this case."

"Yes, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog begrudgingly stated with a frown at being so quickly shot down. Even the silver furred hedgehog seemed to flinch a bit at the brazenness of the objection being taken so lightly and how the Judge seemed suddenly so keen on making the case move at an unusually fast pace. "You said that the witness looked close to fainting when you arrived with the officers. Just so I can get a general timeline here, how long did it take for you all to arrive at the docks after receiving the call?"

"I would say no more than five minutes at the most," the senior detective recollected with hardly any hesitation. "It just so happened that the Local Precinct is situated close to the docks where the call was made. Put that into combination that the general area hardly sees any kind of heavy morning traffic, and it's pretty easy to get there in the time we did."

"And exactly what time would you say that would be?"

"I can't be too sure, but I would say it was about five past seven when we arrived," the detective responded after giving it a little bit of thought.

"Objection, Your Honor!" the prosecutor objected once more with a sort of boredom in his tone this time around. "The time in which it took for the police and detective to arrive at the docks doesn't play much of a factor since we have a reliable witness who kept watch over the scene after it had occurred."

"And who exactly is this witness that we've all yet to hear from?" the defense attorney countered back in hopes that he would be able to gain some kind of ground with this. "If she's as important as you say she is, then shouldn't she be up here on the witness stand now testifying to us all instead of Detective Silver recounting the scene?"

"Because I don't feel the need to bother her with a case that's no doubt caused her a lot of unnecessary grief," he simply explained with an insipid smile making its way onto his old and slightly wrinkly lips. His sickly green eyes also seemed to shine with a force that was teasingly daring the teen to try and counter him on this. "Think of the inhumanity at subjecting her to what could've possibly been one of the most frightful moments of her life. That and I feel the evidence itself shall help prove the case for me. Now if we're done trying to exchange meaningless blows, can we please get back to the cross-examination?"

_And how about you stop being so pushy on every little thing I say?_ Sonic inwardly thought with an inaudible growl before trying to think of another way to bypass the man's ever persistent pickiness of details. _I swear; you're acting like a cocky teenager refusing to be told otherwise by even the teacher!_

"Don't let him get the better of you!" Tails warned with a friendly little poke on the arm to show he still had some moral support next to him. "He might be acting arrogant here, but you have to keep your cool and find a weakness past that wall. That's the only way you're probably going to be able to get anything through him."

"Easy for you to say since you're not the one trying to squeeze some questions past his ego-driven attitude," the teen grumbled quietly through gritted teeth before quickly regaining his composure and acting like the professional attorney he was supposed to be. "Detective, you said that you took the statements of both the defendant and the witness about what happened at the time of the incident. Do you remember what either of them said?"

"Unfortunately, I can only tell you about what Prosecutor Shadow told me since I only took his statement that day," Silver responded with a resolute nod of his head. "Another officer on the scene took the official statement of the witness, and I haven't yet had the chance to look it over for myself."

"Can you recall to us what Shadow said happened?" the defense attorney asked in hopes that he could find some kind of opening or at least gain more information that he could somehow use. At least it did not look like the prosecutor was going to be cutting him off soon like some kind of hungry lion trying to get at the food first.

"Well, he said that he was out for his regular morning walk before getting ready for work," the detective explained with a thoughtful look on his face as he recalled the conversation he had with Shadow then. "It was quite foggy then, but he didn't like to break a routine for an extraneous reason. And for the sake of convenience to the court, I have the Weather Report from that morning confirming that it was indeed a foggy day."

"The court accepts this as evidence," the Judge admitted the paperwork with a pounding of his gavel. "Please continue on with the rest of your testimony. What did the defendant tell you about his recollection of the morning?"

"Well, he said that he heard two people talking up ahead of him at some point along his dock route. He could only recognize the voice of his coworker since the stutter was quite memorable for him. The second person didn't do too much talking. He then heard a small scuffle before shots rang out. He then heard something being pushed into the river before he heard somebody running away from the scene. That's when he walked up to the gun in a daze and picked it up with his bare hands."

"Sounds like a convenient story fitting for a criminal who was just caught in the act," Mephiles added with a haughty snort before crossing his arms. "Nobody would just pick up a potentially deadly weapon in an apparent daze after bearing witness to a horrific murder and put themselves in the path of immense trouble. That's especially so with someone familiar with the law like the defendant himself."

"Speaking of murder weapons, why hasn't it been presented to the court yet?" Sonic asked Silver as he suddenly realized they were missing that key detail. "Has it not yet been fully dusted for prints and other details yet?"

"Uh, I-I apologize to the court for forgetting that," Silver quickly apologized with a small stutter upon realizing his mistake before pulling out a Pistol inside a plastic bag from his detective's coat and produced it as evidence to the court. "I didn't mean to omit that piece of information from the court. It just kind of slipped my mind."

"Then can you please show the court the weapon used to kill the victim, detective?" the Judge asked before pounding at his gavel.

"Yes, Your Honor; it was concluded after testing that this was used to kill Ms. Mae," he said as he began to explain to the court the key details about the murder weapon. "It was shot three times, but there's only one bullet wound on the victim's chest. It's believed that the extra shots occurred from the multiple shots the witness attested to hearing before discovering the defendant with the gun in his hands. The ballistic markings also match that with the Pistol, so we can clearly say she was led to her death with it.

"However, those aren't really the things that point the finger at Prosecutor Shadow as being the murderer," he continued on after pausing for a couple of seconds as if trying to figure out how to say what was next on his mind. "What really tied him into all of this was the fact that his fingerprints were found on the weapon's handle."

"The defendant's fingerprints were discovered on the Pistol?" the Judge repeated in shock as the courtroom began muttering with one another. After pounding his gavel in order to restore order, he said, "Forgive the unintended pun, but this does cast the defense's case under a rather harsh shadow."

"Now do you see why the story the defendant gave to the detective was nothing but an attempt to escape getting caught of his crime?" the prosecutor asked in a self-centered fashion as if he had the case in the palm of his hands already. "The fact that his fingerprints were found on the weapon should more than prove that he was the only person who could've murdered the victim. And let's not forget that he was the only one within the immediate vicinity to have easily both shot her and dump her unconscious body into the cold waters of the Mobius River. There's just no other plausible explanation for it all."

"But is that really the only explanation that answers all the questions about this case?" Tails whispered thoughtfully as he tried to mull over what the detective had just testified about. "While the evidence is kind of flimsy, the way they were presented really helps to give that Mephiles guy a good advantage over us. He sure knew how to present them right when they would hurt you the most."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence, Tails," Sonic murmured under his breath as he gritted his teeth at the situation he found himself in against a prosecutor who seemed beyond relentless in his attacks. He then said out loud, "I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you on that, Prosecutor Mephiles. You see, we have yet to hear all the facts that pertain to this case yet. You can't possibly come to the conclusion that there's no other set of plausible explanations that help to explain everything about case."

"And just what particular fact are you saying we're overlooking from this painfully simple case, Mr. Sonic?" the man questioned with an eyebrow raised in amusement at how the defense attorney was still trying to stand against him. "If you can present to the court something more than reasonable that might possibly withstand a bit more scrutiny, then I'll gladly hear of it. Otherwise, I suggest you save yourself some unneeded embarrassment and keep the courts out of your baseless ideas."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"You might think that you have an open-and-shut case, but that's far from the reality of things," Sonic stated as he crossed his arms and thought back to a particular subject that was repeated a few times during Silver's testimony. "There's still one thing that the court itself has yet to have the chance to look at to the best of its ability."

"And what exactly are you talking about here?" Mephiles asked with intrigue at a young defense attorney that he had no doubt been trying to scare into losing was still having a lot of fight in him. "Just running your lips isn't going to help bring your point across."

"What I'm saying is that we've yet to hear from the witness who supposedly heard the gunshots and saw my client after the act was committed!" the cobalt hedgehog responded with a firm look on his face. "You can't comfortably say that you solved this case before we've all even had a chance to hear her side of the story!"

"And I already told you that hearing from her would only be a waste of time," the prosecutor objected with a roll of his eyes at having to repeat himself. "Everything that this detective has just said supports the supposition and changes it into a fact that Prosecutor Shadow murdered Prosecutor Flora Mae. I object to your request. I'm sure that the Judge will agree with me wholeheartedly on this fact."

"Objection…overruled," the Judge announced after hesitating for a small moment. This, in turn, slightly shocked the old prosecutor a bit as he let in a sharp intake of air upon hearing his objection being rejected. "I have to side with the defense on this. While it may seem clear as of now that it couldn't have been anybody but the defendant who murdered the woman, we still have a witness that we've yet to cross-examine. I don't feel comfortable making my ruling on the case until I've heard from everybody involved."

"…If that's how Your Honor feels about it, then who am I to not comply with your wishes," the old man responded calmly despite clearly not liking the fact that the Judge disagreed with him on this. "I'll go ahead and summon the witness. However, I request that a recess be announced. I have a feeling that the defense has more redundancies up his sleeve, and I need to recover from his first bout of it. So if you don't mind, Your Honor…,"

"To be perfectly honest, I don't see the need to be calling recess at this time," the Judge stated with a small frown as he seemed less than nervous to disagree once more. However, that was short-lived as the sound of the prosecutor pounding at his table and sending him a harsh stare made him consider otherwise. "On the other hand, I suppose a ten-minute recess would be good for everybody's health. After all, sitting down on this bench for thirty minutes isn't really all too good for my back."

_Just who exactly is running this court today?_ Sonic thought as he raised an eyebrow in shock at what was taking place. Even Tails seemed speechless at how the Judge seemed to be nothing but a simple windup toy being put at the mercy of Mephiles. _Isn't it the Judge who should be the one to call the shots?_

"The court shall now take a ten-minute recess!" the Judge announced before pounding his gavel down to make it official. "Court will reconvene after that!"

And with that, he along with everybody else in the audience booths got up and took their leave of the courtroom to do whatever it was they had to do. Mephiles made his way to the courtroom lobby while both Sonic and Tails simply looked on in shock at just how one-sided in terms of power this trial was. This was definitely not going to be the easiest case they ever had to take on.

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired three times. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints.

**New Profiles:**

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old Senior Detective down at the Local Precinct. He was the first detective to have received the call about a disturbance at the Mobius Docks and has thus assumed leadership over the initial investigation.

Flora Mae: A prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office. She was Shadow's coworker and was discovered to have been murdered only after Shadow heard the sound of gunshots at the dock and quickly went to investigate it.


	18. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 4

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story that I've put on hiatus for a couple of months. Trust me when I say this. Academic suspension isn't something that you ever want to find yourself in when in college. You'd better drop every unnecessary thing that you're doing on concentrate on studying your butt off so you can raise your grade up and away from academic suspension. It's not a pretty place to be at, and the constant fear of getting bad grades on your tests doesn't bode well to your overall health.

And that's why I've been on hiatus for the past couple of months. I've been trying to stave off my impending academic doom and managed to survive round one. Now I have to face off with it again in round two, the next college quarter, and see if I can have a repeat performance or have an even better outcome than this quarter. But that's why I haven't been updating on any of my stories for over a month. After all, school comes first, and I'm sure all of you understand since you're all either in school or had been in school at one point in your life.

Anyway, that's enough about my academic troubles that I'm sure none of you are interested in hearing. What you want is to read the new chapter that I've just posted on here. But before you do that, allow me to post the evidence and profiles from the past chapter. After all, you might need it if you plan on playing along with the mystery instead of just blasting through it like another regular story. Once you're through that, you'll be in new chapter territory.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story you want to read. I always read them and see if there are any suggestions or corrections that you've brought to my attention. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He works in Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm office and is currently on track on becoming a full-fledged attorney and escape from fledgling status.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. After his performance in the previous case at the local Precinct, Dr. Robotnik has taken him in as the firm's local on-scene detective.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old prosecutor who doesn't like nonsense and is childhood friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He's currently being held by the police under suspicion of murdering one of his coworkers at the Mobius Docks.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old Senior Detective down at the Local Precinct. He was the first detective to have received the call about a disturbance at the Mobius Docks and has thus assumed leadership over the initial investigation.

Flora Mae: A prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office. She was Shadow's coworker and was discovered to have been murdered only after Shadow heard the sound of gunshots at the dock and quickly went to investigate it.

Mephiles: An old hedgehog of sixty-five with over thirty years worth of experience in the court of law as a prosecutor. His name strikes a cord of fear in all attorneys on both sides of the courtroom because of his infamously ruthless attitude and strict to-the-point, no-nonsense legal offense.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 4<strong>

"Shadow, who the heck is that guy at the prosecution table?" Sonic asked while they were on their ten minute break brought about courtesy of the old prosecutor from earlier. "He's acting like he owns everybody and everything in the courtroom!"

"That's Prosecutor Mephiles," Shadow simply responded with a shake of his head at just the mention of his name. "He's regarded to as a legend within the Prosecutor's Office. Since he first took the oath to serve the city and persecute any and all wrongdoers who step in front of him to the best of his abilities, he's never lost a single case brought to him. He exercises every kind of power granted to him as prosecutor to convict every person in his sights. Even the best of defense attorneys couldn't stand a chance against his brazen techniques that I'm sure you already had a small taste of in there today. You can kind of say that he literally throws the book of law at you. With a man of his caliber, there's nothing short of a perfect counterargument that could possibly put a dent in his onslaught of attacks."

"Wow, he certainly sounds like a complete terror in the courtroom," Tails said with a low whistle at the honestly frightening description of the man they were up against. It really was a good way to take away one's confidence just by hearing it. "I thought the bailiff was kidding around when he told us about him. I guess I can see why there's such a strong dejecting aura surrounding this courthouse now."

"But I managed to put a dent in his argument!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he did not hear a word his younger brother just said. "He tried to get away with only using evidence to convict you of this murder. He tried to brush off the witness as if she were nothing but a stupid distraction from all this!"

"He's not the kind of man to let something as obvious as that to be caught by anybody," the ebon furred hedgehog said with a shake of his head despite the pouting look he got from his defender at the remark. "He shows no mercy to anyone, and he doubles his assaults on rookies like you. I'm sure he's just playing with you so you can just embarrass yourself when you cross-examine his witness. This was more of a poke than a dent to his offense."

"It's not like I have much choice in the matter here. He practically closed every single door that I could've possibly used as an argument against his case. At least we managed to gain some much needed information about the crime scene from Detective Silver."

"A lot of good that'll do you here," the prosecutor responded bitterly. It was clear that he felt the entire situation to be nothing but hopeless at this point. "It's only speculation at this point with no real evidence to back it, but there have been occasional whispers of Mephiles tampering with testimony other than the police to the point where it would benefit only him yet not so much that it would not appear too suspiciously succinct. If you looked at all of the transcripts of his cases, the witnesses only said things that dealt the cards all in his favor."

"Then how are we supposed to get anything useful out of the witness?" the two tailed fox asked in disbelief at what he had just heard. Even Sonic seemed shocked into quietness upon hearing even more gloomy news.

"I never said that you wouldn't get anything useful out of his witnesses' testimonies. I'm only saying that you probably won't be able to do anything with it. If you can help Sonic out, though, then you just might stand a chance at scattering his well-crafted offense," Shadow added in a hopeful tone as he suddenly thought of something. "Your intellect just might be enough to counter Mephiles's. He's a master tactician in the battlefield known as the law, and I know that you can easily navigate through his strategically placed logic traps provided that you have enough information to work with. If you two continue to work together, then you both just might stand to at least see another day's worth of court from this case."

"But how can I do that when I could barely even offer Sonic just some moral support to keep him going with the process?" Tails asked as he saw in the corner of his eye the bailiff beckoning the three back into the courtroom. "That's almost like asking me to perform a rain dance in the middle of a scorching desert!"

"Well, you managed to do something like that with the senatorial case over a month ago with hardly any real evidence when you successfully convicted Espio of murder," the ebon furred hedgehog stated with a small smile before making his way into the courtroom. "There's no reason why you can't pull off something like that this time around."

"I barely managed to put any of the pieces together then; I don't think I could do the same thing this time!" the two tailed fox exclaimed with a sigh of frustration.

"Well, I'll be counting on you in there, buddy!" Sonic then exclaimed happily before patting his little brother on the shoulder and walking into the courtroom.

"Does anyone here know that I'm not the one who's doing the actual defending here?" he asked no one in particular before following the two into the courtroom while shaking his head at what was dumped onto his shoulders.

In less than a minute after all three of them had reentered the courtroom, everybody was in their rightful positions. Mephiles was already standing across from them with his arms crossed and a conceited smile on his face. The judge then entered the room and took his seat on his chair, and round two of today's court proceedings began.

"Court will now reconvene!" the Judge announced with a pound of his gavel as the mutterings of the peanut gallery quickly died down. "Prosecutor Mephiles, is your witness ready to take the stand?"

"Need you even ask such a pointless question?" the prosecutor asked with an annoyed roll of his eyes. Apparently, that was his terribly rough version of saying yes.

"Very well. Bailiff, please escort the witness to the stand."

In the next couple of seconds, the court bailiff escorted a young hedgehog woman who looked to still have been in her teenage years to the witness stand. She was dressed in a simple one piece pink dress with white lace that seemed fitting for the quickly approaching summer heat. Her long pink quills were neatly combed and had a pink rose situated just over her right ear. Even her shoes were pink with traces of red on it. It was clear that she loved the color pink if her entire attire was not an indicator of it.

"Name and profession for the court," Mephiles simply commanded without saying anything else to the witness.

"Now is that a way to be asking a girl for anything?" she asked back in a somewhat high pitched voice and a pout on her face while crossing her arms. "I took time off of my summer vacation simply because it's my civil duty to testify to you all about what I saw. The least you could do is treat me like a proper girl and show some manners."

"Name and profession for the court!" the prosecutor asked once more with more force this time around. "Make me ask again and I'll see to it that you'll be starting your new year of high school in a cold and damp jail cell."

"Oh, how you flatter me, Mr. Prosecutor," she bit back sarcastically before somewhat resigning to the fact she was not going to be getting any manners from the old man.

"Gee, she sure has the guts to go up against him with an attitude like that," Sonic whispered to Tails without breaking eye contact with the witness. "I can only imagine how it'd be like to be the guy who goes out on a date with her. I wouldn't be surprised if she's as demanding then as she is now."

"You know I can hear you whispering, right?" she asked with an eyebrow raised at the cobalt hedgehog. This immediately caused him to blush at being caught talking about her. "If you have something rude you want to say about me to someone, try saying it when I'm out of earshot next time.

"Anyway, my name's Amy Rose," the witness finally introduced herself to the court after that rather senseless exchange and sensing Mephiles's gaze angrily burning holes into her head. "And as for my occupation, I'm sure you've already heard of it through the prosecutor's rather veil threat. But if you want me to say it again, then it's right now as an upcoming high school junior at Mobius High and a photographer for the school paper."

"And you are the young lady who had the misfortune of being near the scene of the crime when it happened and seeing the aftermath of it?" the Judge surmised more than asked as a thoughtful look passed by his face. "Might I trouble you to tell us just what exactly you were doing at the docks so early in the morning?"

"As you all can see, I'm a rather slim girl," Amy responded as she brought her left hand over her hand from top and bottom as if to accentuate her words. "In order to keep my figure, I like to go on early morning walks whenever the summer vacation starts. And that's exactly what I was doing just before I found myself tangled up in a police investigation."

"Very well then. Could you please provide the court with your testimony regarding what you both saw and heard on the morning of the crime?" the Judge asked with a pounding of his gavel. "It would be of great help to us if you did."

"Since you asked so nicely, I think I'll be more than happy to," she stated with an agreeing smile and nod of her head.

"Let's just hope we'll have more luck with this than we did with Silver's testimony," Sonic grumbled under his breath to Tails. All his little brother could respond with at this time was a nod of his head in agreement.

_**The Moments Before the Murder  
><strong>_

It was almost seven when I had arrived at the Mobius Docks. I had just gotten off the bus and was going to walk my way home. After a couple of minutes down my path, I heard loud popping sounds piercing through the air. That was when I quickly made my way forward to where I heard it coming from. Once there, I saw the defendant crouching on the ground with what looked to have been a gun in his hands. That's when I decided to call the police.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"That was…surprisingly succinct and to the point," the Judge responded once she was done recounting what had happened that morning. "I don't think I've ever heard of a testimony as clear as yours in a long time."

"It's clear because it's straight from what she remembered as if it were still happening right in front of her," Mephiles explained with a smirk that only he knew the meaning behind. "Anyway, I believe that it's now the defense's turn to cross-examine her as they so wanted to before the recess."

"As the prosecutor said, the ball's now resting on your side," the Judge announced as he pointed towards Sonic's side of the room and motioned for him to begin the cross-examination. "Take it away, Mr. Sonic."

"That doesn't even sound like a testimony a high school student would naturally give to us!" Sonic complained under his breath so only Tails could hear his unprofessional whining. "That Mephiles probably found some way to make her say only what he wants her to say so he can keep me from proving my case while still sounding good for the courts."

"I'm thinking you're right, but that's not what you should be concentrating on," Tails stated as he tried to redirect his older brother's attention to the main task at hand. "You have no evidence that he doctored it, so you should just try to get some information out of her."

"That's provided if he doesn't pull the same nit-picky stunt like he did with Silver's testimony," the cobalt hedgehog whined before preparing to question Amy.

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Ms. Rose, how did you know that it was almost seven when the bus arrived at your stop?" Sonic asked as he tried to just get something out in order to see where it would take him. "The last time I rode a bus, they didn't have anything that could be construed as a clock for you to check the time with."

"I just happened to have been wearing my watch at the time," Amy simply explained as she brought up her right arm and flashed her pink strapped wristwatch that read out the numbers digitally. "I usually have my walks last about an hour, and I wanted to take note of the starting time. That's how I was so sure about the time."

"I see," the cobalt hedgehog simply said since he quickly ran out of steam with that line of questioning. He did not expect to have gotten such an explainable answer so quickly from it. This then forced him to quickly come up with another question. "And can you explain to me why you decided to ride the bus to your starting point rather than just starting from your house and walk around for an hour?"

"Objection!" Mephiles quickly exclaimed before pounding his desk for good measure. "Why she decided to start her walk out at the docks instead of at home has no bearing on this case. The fact remains that she was there when the murder occurred."

"Objection sustained," the Judge agreed with a small yet sure nod of his head before pounding at his gavel to make the ruling official. "Please move on to something with more relevance to the case, Mr. Sonic."

"Yes, Your Honor," he said with a small sigh at being shot down so quickly. Then again, he was half expecting that to happen sometime soon during the process, so it did not come as too much of a surprise for him. It still irked the heck out of him, however. "You said you heard popping sounds after walking for a few minutes. Did you know that they were gunshots, or did you assume they were something else still worth investigating?"

"I didn't know…," she started to say before she was rudely interrupted by another objection from the prosecutor.

"You're badgering the witness over trifling details that present no changes to the case," the old prosecutor objected once more with his arms crossed while seemingly enjoying watching the poor defense attorney suffer under his prosecuting mercy. "You're starting to bore the court with meaningless repetitive drabble. I object to the question, Your Honor!"

"You didn't even let the witness finish her sentence before you objected!" Tails countered in an attempt to help try and make Amy's explanation heard to the court and stop the onslaught of objections. "How do you know whether or not it's a trifling detail before you've even heard her explanation?"

"Because she most likely would've gone looking for the source of the sound since it was probably an uncommon occurrence for that time of day. Whether or not she knew they were gunshots wouldn't have deterred her from investigating, little boy."

"But if she knew they were gunshots beforehand, then she wouldn't have gone running right towards the source of the sound!" Sonic bit back in hopes that he could make a valid argument to let his question stand. "It would be like sitting calmly in a building while it's burning down all around you and pretending nothing's wrong! That's why I'm asking her if she knew what she heard!"

"The defense does raise a valid point here," the Judge responded after hearing both sides arguing a bit and pounded at his gavel. "Objection overruled. The witness will answer the question. Did you know the popping sounds you heard that morning at the docks were, in fact, gunshots, or did you think they might've been something else?"

"As I was trying to say before being rudely interrupted, I didn't know that the sounds were actually gunshots at the time," Amy answered with her arms crossed and purposefully not making eye contact with Mephiles. "I had my headphones in my ears at the time, but they weren't on so loud that I couldn't hear anything around me. Because of that, I thought it was just somebody having fun and setting off some firecrackers. Wondering why anyone would set one off during a foggy morning, I decided to check it out and discovered the defendant with a gun in his hand."

"So you didn't know that bullets had just been fired right in your intended path," the Judge surmised with a small shake of his head. "You're an extremely lucky girl to have not been caught in the crossfires. I suppose the fog also played a major role in your safety in that the murderer didn't catch sight of you."

"Did you notice anything else strange right after the shots were fired?" the cobalt hedgehog asked while trying to dig up some more information. "Was there anybody else near the area, or did you hear anybody running away?"

"I know I said that I wasn't listening to my music very loud, but it was loud enough to drown out even my own footsteps when I ran the short distance to the crime scene," she simply responded with a small shrug of her shoulders. "And it was just way too foggy for me to have even seen probably about five or so feet before things got blurry."

"So you never did get a good look of the actual crime scene?"

"I'm sorry to say that I didn't. But I did see the defendant still there with a gun in his hands. Isn't that enough proof that he probably committed the murder regardless that it was only the aftermath of the incident?"

"But what you just said doesn't quite fit in with what Detective Silver just testified about," Tails responded as he thought back to the first testimony. "When asked about what Shadow told him, he said that the defendant clearly heard some footsteps running away from the crime right after the victim was thrown into the river. You can't say for sure that it was only the defendant who could've committed the murder!"

"And do you have any evidence that this supposed third person exists?" Mephiles asked in a countering tone. "If you do, then I'll be more than happy to entertain the idea of another potential suspect. I doubt, however, that you have anything of that caliber at your disposal. Or don't tell me that you really have something to that regard?"

"Well, does the defense have any evidence suggesting that a third person was on the docks at the time of the murder?" the Judge asked with a raised eyebrow at the idea brought about by Tails.

"We don't have any evidence suggesting such a thing with us at this current time," the two tailed fox smoothly responded as if not fazed by the fact he had no evidence to help back his sudden claim. "However…,"

"The court of law does not like to deal with suppositions or questions clearly meant to stall for time," the prosecutor quickly cut him off before he could finish his new sentence. "You either have the evidence with you or not. There's no third option unless you have at least two peoples' testimony saying the same thing. We don't have that right now, so do you still intend to go along with this dead end?"

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Anyway, I suggest that we put an end this cross-examination before we set the world record for court redundancies," Mephiles suggested with a sigh while shaking his head at the situation. "I believe that the defense has run out of questions to ask the witness. And with it, they've run out of gas for their case."

"I object, Your Honor!" Sonic quickly objected with a small growl that he did not bother to hide since he was practically being forced to end his questioning. "I still have plenty of things I want to ask the witness!"

"Oh really?" the old hedgehog asked with eyebrows raised in seemingly sick amusement. "From what I've heard, you've already asked everything that there is to ask while still sticking with the testimony. It's clear that you're merely just grasping at straws when you know that there's no way out for you. Why don't you just be a big boy and admit it? You've reached the end of the line, and you ran out of pertinent questions to ask."

"I'm sorry, but I'm inclined to agree with the prosecution on this, Mr. Sonic," the Judge responded in a tone meant as agreement with the old man. "You haven't really come across anything particularly damning from Ms. Rose's testimony. And you don't have any evidence to protest anything that she's supplied to the court. With the way the facts stand now, I'm afraid that her testimony has done nothing but supplement what we've already learned from Detective Silver's recount of the crime scene."

"And it's on that note that I would like to call an end to the cross-examination," the prosecutor declared in an overly sure tone. "She has stated nothing but the truth, and it's with that truth that I intend to convict the defendant for the murder of fellow prosecutor Flora Mae."

"Objection, Your Honor!" Tails suddenly exclaimed in an attempt to not get beaten to the ground and not even try to get back up. "While Ms. Rose's testimony may be nothing but the truth, we have still yet to ask her a question of utmost importance. Namely, we still don't know what exactly she saw that morning."

"Has your head been in the gutter all this time, boy? The past testimony has been nothing but what the witness saw that morning. She said that she saw the defendant crouched down with a gun in his hand. How much more clearly do you want it to be?"

"I want to know exactly to the very last detail what she saw that morning!" the fox spelled out purposefully slow as to both accentuate what he was asking and to annoy Mephiles. "She said that she could only see clearly up to five feet before the fog clouded her vision. However, one could at least see the faint outline of people through the fog from a further distance before completely disappearing in it. It's with that in mind that I ask what the witness really saw that morning. She's either leaving something out, or she has bad eyesight and can't see far without eyeglasses."

"Are you trying to say that my eyes are worse off than they really are despite the fog?" Amy asked in an offended tone while shooting a dirty look at the young fox. "How dare you! I'll have you know that I just went to the doctor's two days ago for a check-up, and he discovered that my eyes are beyond perfect."

"Yet your perfect eyes couldn't even see every single thing when those shots were being fired. You must've at least seen some kind of indication that something was being fired in the dense foggy mess."

"Of course I saw something being fired just in front of me!" she responded angrily without really thinking. "It's hard to miss such bright flashes just suddenly appearing. I arrived at the scene in less than three seconds after that, and he was already crouched down looking at the gun in his hands!"

"That's enough!" Mephiles exclaimed so as to put an end to the rather heated exchange. He looked like he was about to get a headache from it as he put his fingers on the bridge of his nose, but Sonic could have cared less if he really was now suffering. "If the defense dares to try and badger the witness with questions already asked or unrelated to the case, I ask that they be held in contempt of court!"

"Mr. Sonic, I have to ask that your assistant learn to keep his tongue in order here," the Judge warned with a stern look as he seemed intent on agreeing with the prosecutor. "You both have already lost the right to ask any more questions because of the lack of further testimony supplied by the witness."

"…While I agree that my partner here needs to try and keep his cool," Sonic started slowly and sternly while giving his little brother a light and thankful pat on the shoulder, knowing full well what the other was trying to pull and succeeding in it, "I have to honorably disagree with you on the fact that I can no longer ask the witness any questions. You see, she had just made some new statements to the court that has yet to been heard, and I have the right to cross-examine every single thing she said!"

"Preposterous!" the old dark furred hedgehog objected with a disbelieving huff of his breath while the audience mumbled amongst themselves about this revelation. "That was hardly a conversation worth cross-examining. It was just the angry grumblings of a young girl who was sorely insulted by someone clearly much younger than her. Your Honor, I ask that you put an end to this charade of a cross-examination immediately!"

"Your Honor, I object and ask that you allow me to cross-examine these new statements that the witness had just made!" the cobalt hedgehog pleaded in a stern tone that could have easily matched that of Mephiles's in terms of ferocity. He was definitely not going to allow what could have been his only opening be closed by a terribly harsh prosecutor. "I have a right to do so as the defense in this case, after all!"

"… …Objection sustained," the Judge finally announced after spending a few moments in contemplative silence and banging his gavel to bring back order to the courtroom. "While I do find that the process used to garner the information was through unconventional means, I find it undeniable that the witness had made a couple of remarks previously unheard of from her original testimony. Because of this, I find that the defense has the right to question the witness in regards to these new statements."

"…Ha, a lot of good that'll do for them!" the prosecutor simply responded with a scowl upon having the Judge disagree with him once again. "It's not as though one new statement will be enough to help unearth something new for them. They're simply just trying to stall for time. But I suppose I'll just have to entertain it for the time being."

"Whew, I can't believe my bad plan actually worked," Tails whispered while breathing out a sigh of relief. "I was just pushing it when I tried to get her angry enough to try and say something new. Who'd thought we'd end up where we are now?"

"Well, that was a good call there, and now I've got something new to work with," the defense attorney said with a thankful nod of his head to his little brother. "Thanks for that." He then redirected his attention to Amy before asking, "Do you mind restating that last statement to the court for the sake of documentation, Ms. Rose?"

"Humph, so long as your little partner doesn't dare to try and talk to me like he did earlier again for the rest of the trial," the pink hedgehog stated with an angry huff and pout of her lips. Apparently, she was still sore about being insulted about her eyesight. "I won't stand for being told that something as clear as my vision is nothing but a lie."

"I can't guarantee that he won't talk to you again, but I will make sure he minds what he says next time," he said as he saw his younger brother roll his eyes at this admittedly weak and baseless threat.

_**Begin Cross-Examination (New Statement[s])**_

After I saw a couple of bright flashes appear in front of me through the dense fog, I arrived in about three or so seconds at the spot where I already saw the defendant crouched down with the gun in his hand.

_**End New Statement(s)**_

"Are you exactly sure that this is what you did after seeing those flashes?" Sonic asked as his mind quickly tried to figure out just how he could use this new piece of information to his advantage. "You immediately ran up to the defendant and saw him close to the ground with the gun in his hands?"

"If I wasn't sure about what I said, then would I still be standing in front of you all with a straight face and believable attitude?" Amy bit back with her arms crossed in slight annoyance at her recollection continuously being under scrutiny. "For your information, I'm a member of the student council in my school, so I don't make it a habit to be lying for any reason. To be honest, I don't see how what I just said is so important to you."

"I agree with the witness in that I'm also confused at what you find so important in this new statement, Mr. Sonic," the Judge responded with a small nod of his head in agreement. His entire facial demeanor completely said that he did not look convinced about the relativity of the new statement. "I don't see anything worthwhile in it besides the fact that it supplements what she already said she witnessed."

"Then maybe we should ask her a few more questions so we can discover the importance of her statement, Your Honor," Tails suggested as he tried to get more clarification on what the pink hedgehog had said. "It's the only way I can think of in order to appease whatever confusion that still rests in your mind."

However, it was short-lived as Mephiles was heard chuckling to himself on the other side of the room in a fashion that seemed to indicate that more questions were not going to disrupt his momentum. Either that or he had something up his sleeves that would help bring the case back to his general direction. The brothers both thought in their heads that the latter of the two was more probable judging by how they saw him act today.

"Unfortunately, the extension of this cross-examination was only allowed so as to satisfy your curiosity to the witness's new statement," the old hedgehog simply countered as a wry smile appeared on his lips. "It's obvious from your suggestion that you've obtained nothing new from this. I can't even see the reasoning behind why the defense saw fit to ask that you allow him to cross-examine the last statement she made. Their redundant and baseless thoughts are starting to cloud my line of legal vision with him."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"That's too bad, because I can see the answer the witness's statement has supplied me standing in front of me as clear as day!" Sonic responded confidently as he managed to discover something useful. "Ms. Rose, if you had indeed run right up to the defendant right after he had supposedly fired the gun, then you should've been able to have seen someone else still with him. Namely, you should've been able to lay eyes on the victim!"

"My, what an interesting claim you make," Mephiles responded with an amused smile appearing on his lips. "What makes you so sure that she should've run into the victim as well as the defendant at the same time? If you plan on making claims as wild as that, then you should be able to back it up with something reasonably believable."

"I don't believe I need to remind the court on how Ms. Mae really died here," the cobalt hedgehog announced without addressing the practically chiding remark directed at him. "She died from drowning that was a result from her being shot once. She was then pushed rather hard over the railing. According to testimony that I received from Shadow during a visit at the Detention Center yesterday, however, he stated that he heard the sound of a body falling into the river about ten seconds after the shot. If you pair that up with what the witness has just said, she was more than capable to have seen the victim still on the docks."

"And how is this detail supposed to be of any help to the formation of your case that was already doomed from the moment you started?" the old hedgehog before giving off a small yawn of apparent boredom. "It sounds like nothing more than a meaningless supposition rather than a defendant's supporting argument. And let's not forget that the testimony you're reading off from came from none other than the accused. He could've easily lied to you in order to earn your trust in the matter."

"Then let's look at it this way, let's suppose that my client was lying about it being ten seconds between the shots and the splash. Even so, I say that it's highly impossible that Ms. Rose failed to see the body. If she did arrive at the scene three seconds after the shots were fired, then Ms. Mae should've still been on the docks. Unless my client pushed the victim off the docks and shot at her at the same time, there's no way that her body would wind up in the river in less than three seconds after the shots. It's just impossible in terms of time! That and it's also clear that she must've been pushed real hard for a bruise to appear on her waist. That's even documented here in her Autopsy Report!

"If my client really were the killer, then he would have to have fulfilled the role of pushing the unconscious victim into the river," he continued on now that he had a momentum going and did not want it to be killed off. "I believe the witness when she said she arrived at the scene as quickly as she did, and that belief leads me to the conclusion that Shadow would not have had the time needed to dispose of Ms. Mae's unconscious body after shooting her. It's impossible no matter how you try to look at it. This leaves him incapable of committing the murder to its fullest!"

"Humph, so you do know how to use that head of yours," the prosecutor responded with a scowl upon hearing an argument he did not seem to see coming. "I must commend you rookie for having come up with a reasonable explanation such as that. However, I hardly see the great deal revolving whether or not our witness here saw the victim right at that moment. It seems nothing more than a trivial concern."

"That may be so…, but the fact our witness failed to see the victim before she went into the river despite having arrived at the scene as quickly as she did concerns me," the Judge stated with slight hesitation as he considered the reality of the revelation. "Before we started the cross-examination, I was close to ready in deciding my ruling on this case. However, now I'm not so sure with this doubt in my mind."

"And how does the defense propose to erase this cumbersome doubt from the Judge's mind?" the prosecutor asked while pointing an accusatory finger at Sonic as if the whole thing was his fault. "After all, you led us down this path believing it would lead you to the answer you so seek. Or did you do it just to waste our time?"

"With the way things stand now, nobody in this court is in a position to come to any kind of conclusion," Sonic recapped quickly without hesitation and looking past the pointing finger. "Because of that, I request that the witness be allowed to testify again to the courts. I would like to hear about what happened right after she discovered the defendant with a gun in his hands. Maybe some insight to the time between the initial call to the police and their actual arrival will shed some light to this case. After all, it's the only timeframe that has yet to be accounted for in this court."

"The court finds this request to be within justifiable reason," the old Judge responded with a nod of his head in agreement and a single pound of his gavel. "Witness, would you kindly please testify to the court about what happened in the moments after you discovered this tragedy and before the police arrived?"

"If you feel that it's necessary, then I'll be more than happy to do so," Amy responded with a simple shrug of her shoulders after being quiet since after she had made her new statement that got them to where they were now. "Hopefully, this'll be the one to help you figure out the truth in this incident."

_**What Happened After the Discovery  
><strong>_

Once I arrived at where the shots were fired, I screamed in fright at what I saw! I wasn't sure whether or not the defendant was going to shoot me. Thankfully, he just seemed shell-shocked after hearing my scream and dropped the gun to the ground. However, I had already taken my cell phone out in an attempt to call the police about it. I admit that I was quite shaken up and probably stuttering pretty badly, but I still managed to get them there. It wasn't long until they had arrived, and I had been leaning on the railing in an attempt to keep myself from falling to the ground from fright until that time.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"I'm amazed that you were composed just enough to call the police what with being as shocked as you say you were," the Judge announced with a raised eyebrow at the testimony just given. "I would've suspected that you would have made some effort to run away before even considering making any kind of call."

"Well, my mind was pretty scattered after being thoroughly scared like that," Amy responded as if that were the only logical explanation for the time. "I mean, it's not every day that I happen to stumble upon a murder, even if it's only the aftermath of it. You can't blame me for acting out of character after having a run-in with the murderer."

"And yet the court is actually entertaining the idea of furthering the suffering of this poor young woman and have her recount those frightful moments when she was left alone with the defendant," Mephiles spoke up as if he were trying to capture a sin of sorts the court was currently conducting. "It's truly a sad state of affairs when we're resort to something like this for the sake of testimony."

"Still, I feel it necessary to at least try and alleviate some of the confusion presented from the previous cross-examination. And speaking of which, the defense may begin with the current cross-examination."

"I'll be more than happy to, Your Honor," Sonic responded as he started to think about how he was going to approach this new testimony he somehow managed to squeeze out from beyond the relentless prosecutor's offense.

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Ms. Rose, do you mind if I asked you what happened right after you screamed?" Sonic asked with an eyebrow raised in question. He could not help but agree with the Judge when he said earlier how she just finished screaming out of apparent fright yet was somehow calm enough to actually dial the police right after that. "How exactly did the defendant react upon suddenly seeing and hearing you?"

"Uh, he kind of looked a bit lost in his own world when I got there," Amy recalled as she thought back to the moment she saw Shadow. "That's all I really noticed before I saw him holding a gun and screamed in fright. When that happened, he seemed to quickly snap out of it and looked at me before calmly dropping the gun to the ground before stepping back and lean against the railing."

"And is that why you chose to stay there rather than run to safety before calling the police?" Tails asked after hearing this explanation. "You felt that the problem died down somewhat and was now bearable to be around."

"I'm honestly not sure why I stayed there, but the only thing that was running through my mind then was to get the police to come and take care of this," she responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "I honestly had no idea what just happened, but I knew that a person just randomly firing off a gun was usually not the greatest of things to just leave alone. That's why I chose to get them here before he ran away."

"But from what you just described to us, it doesn't sound like my client was intent on running away from the scene anytime soon," the cobalt hedgehog explained as he mulled over what he just heard. "He even discarded the gun to the ground and stepped away from it before you called. Your need to have been panicking had disappeared when the threat of you being shot by him went away with it."

"But the fact remains that she was still panicked over the ordeal," Mephiles countered with a huff of his breath while crossing his arms. For some strange reason, he seemed a bit less aggressive with his attacks this time around. It felt almost as if he were now trying to improvise with his line of attack as the details came about. "I don't see how being picky at a response that holds no sense to us now will help solve the mysteries you've brought up."

"But I honestly can't understand why she would just stay there if she really felt to be in such danger," the defense attorney countered back with a scowl. "It's clear she wasn't shocked to the point of not being able to do anything since she managed to call the police. I'm inclined to believe that something went through her mind during that time for her to have chosen to just stay there while calling the police. I'm sure she knew that there were risks involved in calling the authorities right in front of a person firing a gun."

"The defense does raise an interesting point," the Judge responded with a nod of his head before pounding down at his gavel once. "Ms. Rose, do you mind telling us what exactly you were thinking that caused you to simply stay there rather than move to a safer location before contacting the police?"

_**New Statement(s)**_

Well, I guess I kind of thought that he wasn't going to hurt me after seeing him put the gun down. I felt it was safe enough to call the police right then and there.

_**End New Statement(s)**_

"You thought that he wasn't going to hurt you and thus felt safe enough to call the police right in front of him," Sonic repeated as he let a few thoughts float around in his head. "Now I'm just voicing my thoughts here, but there technically wasn't anything stopping him from suddenly lunging at either you or the gun and try to kill you, as well. It was still a pretty dangerous situation to be staying in."

"But I did get a good look at his eyes, and they looked like he was pretty scared about the whole situation," Amy responded as if that were a good answer to the concern. "I have a little sister, so I know a scared look when I see one. I guess my subconscious was telling me it was safe because of that."

"So you're saying that your instincts as an older sister is what caused you to not run away when you gambled at the thought that everything was going to be safe for you," the Judge surmised with a thoughtful hum coming from the back of his throat. "I suppose that would be a good enough reason enticing you to stay. However, I must say that you took quite a risk with that and suggest you just try to escape next time."

"Gamble or not, I still managed to lead the police to the right place in order to discover this terrible crime before it floated away with the river's current," she stated with a shrug of her shoulders. "As far as I know, I'm the only witness to the entire thing despite only having caught the back end of the murder."

"Speaking of murders, how was it that the police saw fit to go and check the river for the victim's body?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with a slight tilt of his head as he suddenly figured that this testimony really did not add much to the moment of the murder. Then again, most of what they were talking about today was just a bad attempt at trying to squander up a suitable defense from apparent nothingness. So far, he and Tails seem barely able to perform that duty correctly. "Nothing that you've provided to us through your testimony seems to indicate any need for them to have the bottom of the river dragged."

"I guess they did what they did because I told them that I heard something that sounded a lot like a splash. Combined with the fact that there was a gunman right there, they probably felt it would be better safe than sorry."

"It sounds more than reasonable for the police to have done what they did after hearing what the witness just told us," Mephiles agreed with the witness while nodding his head. "It's their job to do whatever it is they need to do if they feel the occasion calls for it. After all, it wouldn't do any good for their reputation if our victim turned up dead on some faraway beach a week or so later when she could've been found a lot sooner."

"I suppose that is a good explanation as to how the victim ended up being discovered," the Judge said while looking thoughtful about the whole thing. "And what does the defense think about what was just said to the court?"

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Unfortunately, I feel something quite wrong with that explanation of things," Sonic stated as he thought back to Amy's first testimony. "Ms. Rose, when we questioned you about the time you first discovered my client, you only said that you heard a couple of gunshots. However, you never said anything about hearing a splashing sound to us at any time. This is the first time that you ever made any indication of such a thing. Can you please explain to the court why this is so?"

"I-I never said anything like that?" Amy asked, clearly shocked at what was being said. "I thought I did. I'm sorry about that. You see, after I heard the shots, I took off my headphones as I made my way to the defendant. It was right when I took them off did I hear some kind of splashing sound."

"Does that answer your question, Mr. Sonic?" Mephiles asked as he seemed more than content with this explanation of things. "She managed to catch the sound of something splashing into the cold Mobius River just as she unplugged her ears. You can't possibly say that there's anything wrong with that."

"If we were to accept that as they are, then we'll all be ignoring a pretty blatant contradiction staring us in the face!" Tails announced before sonic could say anything about it. "Don't forget that we have Shadow's Testimony that has him saying he heard a splashing sound ten seconds after he heard the gunshots. That completely contradicts our witness's version saying she heard it within three seconds after the fact. How can you just stand there and say this explanation explains everything that we need to know?"

"That's because it's only natural for a criminal like the defendant to try and lie his way out of this unfortunate predicament," the prosecutor simply responded with a crude smile slowly making its way onto his lips. "After all, he's being held for murder and wants to try and get out of it regardless of whatever he has to say."

"That's not exactly the greatest of arguments I've ever heard of," the two tailed fox countered with a scowl on his face.

"Then how about this? Do you have anything to prove that what the defendant said to you in the Detention Center is the truth? If you can do that, then I just might consider this seemingly strange discrepancy as something with certain bearing to the case. Otherwise, stop trying to bring this frivolous idea up."

Instead of saying anything, both guys simply stood quiet with a growl emanating from the back of their throats. They had nothing to could use to prove their point, and Mephiles knew this as well as he knew the law like the back of his hand. If only they could just have another day to try and get in some investigation of the crime scene that they never had a chance to get. They just did not have enough information to keep this case moving.

"I'll take your long silence as saying that you don't have anything to prove your point," the Judge responded after hearing the silence go on for another few seconds. "If that's the case, then I have no choice but to side with the witness and consider what she's saying to be the truth. And with that, I find that the witness did in fact witness the murder with her ears and caught the sounds of our victim falling into the Mobius River. There has been no evidence presented that says otherwise, and the defense has yet to prove their end of the case. I'm afraid that I'll have to call an end to this cross-examination!"

"B-But there are still some things that we're not clear on!" Tails exclaimed in an attempt to find more time to work. "You can't just end things like this. We still don't know if there was anything else Ms. Rose saw at the scene. Is there something that you noticed that you haven't told the court yet?" the fox asked as he diverted his attention to Amy in a last-ditch effort to try and get this case running in their favor.

"Well, I did manage to take a pho…," she started to say before Mephiles immediately cut her off with a loud and obnoxious clearing of his throat.

"Witness, you've no need to answer that question," he responded calmly before letting out a sigh that was completely unreadable. "Your Honor, I believe that you were about to call an end to this tedious cross-examination."

"Before you do so, I would like to hear what the witness had to say to my assistant's question," Sonic countered before the Judge had a chance to pick up his gavel and call the witness off of the stand. Besides, he had a sneaking suspicion what Amy was going to say and was going to go straight to the point instead of risk getting cut off again. "Witness, does your cell phone have a camera feature to it?"

"That's what I was going to say before Mr. Meanie here interrupted me!" Amy confirmed with a nod of her head before taking out her phone that was a shocking color of pink. "I thought that I would take a picture of the scene in case the police find a need for it."

Upon hearing this, the entire courtroom started to talk amongst themselves with surprise clear in their voices. The prosecutor, however, simply shook his head at this outburst in a way that seemed as if he had been expecting to happen.

"Order in the court!" the Judge exclaimed as he tried to get everything back under control. After a few seconds, he finally got things back under control before diverting his attention to Amy. "Witness, why did you not tell us about this first? It's a terribly important detail if one can procure a Photograph from before the police arrive!"

"Well, it isn't my fault or anything like that!" she defended herself with her lips forming an angry pout. "I wanted to tell you all about it from the get-go, but it was this stupid prosecutor who told me to keep quiet about it when I showed it to him."

"Prosecutor Mephiles!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed in both a surprised and demanding voice upon hearing the witness making this statement. The court once again went into a slight uproar, but even the Judge seemed too shocked to quiet them down. "Did you really say that to the witness? Did you purposefully withhold potentially crucial evidence from this court and instruct her to do the same? I'm going to petition the courts to have them consider holding you in contempt of court!"

"I suggest that you don't get too cocky and start recklessly jumping to conclusions," Mephiles prosecutor simply responded with a snort of his breath in a tone that did not sound like he was objecting to the claim. In all honesty, he seemed as calm as if it were just another part of the case he already had well planned. "After all, every action regardless if it's good or bad has a certain reason behind it for being committed."

"So you're admitting to the court that you purposefully withheld evidence, prosecutor?" the Judge asked as he finally recovered from the shock and started banging at his gavel once again to get the gallery to quiet down. "I hope for your sake that you have a good explanation for this. Even a prosecutor of your caliber can't escape the repercussions that come with an accusation as grave as this!"

"I suppose I have no choice then but to show the court this picture that the witness took of the scene," the old prosecutor said with an annoyed sigh and roll of his eyes. "However, I'm sure that you'll all see how utterly ridiculous it is to be seeing such an unimportant piece of evidence. After all, there's nothing of grave importance on it."

"I think we'll all be the judge of that," Tails spoke up as he could not help but feel a cocky smile make its way onto his lips. "Ms. Rose, do you think you can show the court this Photograph that you took?"

"I'd be more than happy to," Amy responded as she took out her phone and started to press some buttons on it before presenting it to Sonic. "Here it is. I honestly almost forgot about it before your loudmouth partner started pressuring me again into trying to remember something. Hope it helps!"

Before the cobalt hedgehog took a look at the Photograph, he chose to put it on a projector that was on his table so that the rest of the court could see. Once it was set up, everybody could see the picture that Amy had took of the scene before the police arrived. It showed a small area of the dock where the murder occurred with a bit of the metal guard rails along the edges with Shadow in a black jacket still crouched down with a gun in his hands and a slight look of shock on his face. However, not much else could be seen due to the thick morning fog that had enveloped the area at the time except for a clear outline of the top of a lighthouse shining its beacon of light as warning for oncoming ships.

"Well, this certainly helps to solidify the witness's claims as to what she saw," the Judge responded after a couple seconds of contemplative silence. "Other than that, I don't really see anything of great importance this adds to the case."

"And that was why I requested that the witness not present the Photograph to the court!" Mephiles responded in an exasperated tone as he placed little effort in defending his actions of withholding the picture. "As Your Honor has just stated, it does nothing but supplement the witness's account of that morning. I'm sure the defense now knows how much of a waste of time this was. Either way, I hope they're satisfied in that they got what they wanted. Are you still content in charging me with contempt of court?"

"I must say that this picture is hardly any grounds for such an accusation, Mr. Sonic. There isn't any kind of special details or new information that it imparts to us. I'm afraid your motion is denied."

"Then why the heck did he hide it from us if it doesn't hurt his case?" Sonic growled out to himself in anger as he started to grit his teeth. "There has to be a reason why he kept this from us, and I bet the reason lies somewhere in here."

"If there is, then it must be something that could easily be missed by even the judge himself," Tails suggested as he kept himself from looking at the old prosecutor's annoyingly smug face. "The only problem is that we can't really see anything except the foreground because of the fog."

"I'm guessing that the defense still has something they feel can be argued," the Judge surmised as he watched the two brothers talking amongst themselves with no regard for the others. "Do you mind telling me just what it is that you're talking about?"

"Uh, we refute the prosecutor's claim in that the Photograph only serves to supplement the witness's statements!" the cobalt hedgehog quickly announced upon being put on the spotlight so suddenly. "This photograph that the witness took holds more information that what we've initially thought!"

"If you're trying to bluff your way to making any semblance of a defense, I suggest you try to do so in a more believable way," Mephiles bit back with a scoff that sounded suspiciously like a condescending chuckle. "Just what exactly is this extra information that this Photograph is hiding from us?"

"…That's a very good question, Prosecutor Mephiles!" the attorney stated with a smile that spoke volumes of the nervous energy he was feeling at trying to come up with something that would open a big hole in the case. The yellow fox responded to this by rolling his eyes a bit at how obvious his older brother was in that he had no idea what he was talking about. "A-And who better to tell us about it than the one who took the picture herself? After all, Ms. Rose was the one who knows the most about it in the moments she had taken it! Perhaps she can shed more light about what happened around her at that exact moment. Maybe then we'll be able to prove the importance that surrounds this photo."

"Unfortunately for you, I object to this half-baked suggestion of yours," the old prosecutor responded with his arms crossed and a huff of his breath. "I've already established that this photograph holds no significance to the case. You'll only be wasting your time questioning the witness about the moment she took the picture. I'm sure you'll find that the Judge will agree with me on this."

"…I beg to differ on that, prosecutor," the Judge responded after a few seconds of silence. "I'm afraid that I'll have to overrule your objection."

"H-How dare you?" the old hedgehog exclaimed with what could only be explained as a snarl of his lips like that of a feral animal who had just lost his meal to another. "On what grounds do you overrule my otherwise sound objection?"

"While the motions surrounding your objection were more than sound, there is one thing that makes me hesitant in accepting it. I honestly have this sneaking suspicion that there's more to this photo than what we can initially see. I can tell that the defense is struggling to stay afloat, but I can't deny what they claim in that the witness might remember the exact moments when she took the photo. After all, I have seen and heard of instances where witnesses saw more than they let on because of a camera.

"However, I'll only allow the witness to testify once more," the old man added as he turned his attention towards the defense who was giving off a triumphant smile that quickly faltered. "We've taken up a lot of this court's time today, and I will not have this case be further dragged on that it already has been. If you cannot at least provide the court with something that can cast considerable doubt on the prosecution's case, then I'm afraid I'll be forced to hand out a verdict of 'guilty' for the defendant. Is that clear?"

"Y-Yes, Your Honor," Sonic managed to stutter out as he felt his short-lived victory quickly dissipate as it had appeared. On the other hand, Mephiles's sour look had changed to a smile upon hearing this condition being placed that was in his favor. "Then if it's okay with the courts, I would like to hear Ms. Rose testify about the moment she took this Photograph."

"Very well, the witness will testify to the court about this matter."

"I'm guessing this means we're nowhere near done for today, huh?" Amy whined out after being silent for the whole exchange after she had produced her photo. "And I was actually kind of hoping that my picture would help wrap things up."

"The only one here who'll be wrapping things up is the good defense attorney," the ruthless prosecutor responded with a huff of his breath with his smile still plastered on his face. "I'm sure he'll be able to bring an end to things today. However, whether or not he'll make it into an ending good enough for him is for him to decide."

_Thanks for your ever wonderful vote of confidence, Mephiles!_ the cobalt hedgehog thought bitterly as he felt content enough to just stare the old man down. _Remind me to hope that you crash and burn, too._

_**The Witness's Photo  
><strong>_

Well, I took the picture with my cell phone because I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. After all, I was pretty sure that the police might find some use for it. However, I suppose I ended up forgetting about what was going on around me at the time due to both the shock and ensuing chaos. Apart from the obvious, I can't really say that I saw anything out of the ordinary in the moments before and after I took the photo. Everything was as it should be except for the defendant with a gun in his hands.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"I don't know how often I've said this, but having to hear something this unnecessary is nothing but a complete waste of our time!" Mephiles announced in an annoyed tone as his arms were tightly crossed across his chest. "It should be clear to anybody in this courtroom that the defense is simply grasping at straws!"

"Whether or not I'm grasping at straws is irrelevant at this time," Sonic announced in an attempt to stay on the offensive as his tightly balled fists rested on the table. "The fact remains that Ms. Rose managed to provide us with one last piece of testimony, and I intend to cross-examine it and garner any new information it might possess, no matter how small or trivial it may seem!"

"Then let us get on with this so we can end today's proceedings," the Judge announced with a small tired sigh. "I don't mean to sound like I'm rushing things here, but we've been going at this for the entire morning and almost all afternoon. I don't think I've ever seen a case go this long for one day, especially when it's a rookie defense attorney against a thirty-year veteran prosecutor. Then again, I suppose this was somewhat to be expected when the best rookie defense is pitted against the best veteran prosecutor."

"Forget the awe and flattery and concentrate on moderating the case, Your Honor," the veteran prosecutor grumbled out without bothering to hide the disdain in his tone. "Like you, I'm starting to become weary of all this. I would like to see the defense crash and burn at their futile attempts to protect their client before I pass out or expire."

"Why don't you take your own suggestion and die already?" the cobalt hedgehog grumbled in an undertone that Tails could barely hear despite standing right beside him. "It'll make the whole damn thing a lot easier if you weren't here!"

"But Mephiles is right when he says that we're just grasping at straws," the young yellow fox stated with a worried sigh escaping his lips. "We barely managed to convince the Judge that Amy's testimony about what she saw during the taking of her photo was important. Her camera must have caught something that she could've possibly seen, and he doesn't want us to figure out what it is even if we have to find it the hard way."

"I just hope we can figure it out before either of them decides to stop our attempts at the cross-examination," the attorney stated as he nervously bit his tongue. "Hopefully, I can pick a good starting place for this detail digging and not make myself sound even more like I'm grasping at thin air."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Ms. Rose, why did you think at the time that taking a picture of the scene of the crime would be the right thing to do?" Sonic asked as he tried to pick a good starter question that would not end up with him being shot down. "If I were in your situation, the first thing I would think of doing is running away."

"Besides the obvious of being scared out of my mind, I'm not really sure," Amy responded as she recalled the moment mentioned. "I guess it was probably a bit out of habit since I've been involved with the school newspaper as their photographer since Freshman year. However, I did think about submitting it to police after they arrived."

"Are you suggesting then that there actually was a moment before the police arrived at the scene where you thought to withhold this Photograph from them?" the cobalt hedgehog wondered as he thought about how the response was phrased. It was all he could do to try and stall for time in the most legitimate way possible while thinking of questions that would unearth the secrets in her photo.

"To be perfectly honest with you all, yes," she bluntly responded without any hesitation in her response. This caused some slight murmurings within the audience before they were quickly silenced by the sound of the Judge's gavel pounding against his bench. "However, I only thought of that when I saw the look in the defendant's eyes. As I said earlier, he looked quite shocked about the whole thing, so I suppose my consciousness was telling me he couldn't possibly have anything to do with this."

"It's not as if that would've made any difference since she ended up forgetting all about it when the police finally arrived," Mephiles quickly concluded as he rolled his eyes at having to explain things in the simplest of ways. "Because of that, I hardly see the relevance this line of questioning has to the defense's case."

"I agree with the prosecution on this," the Judge announced with a curt nod of his head. "I suggest that you quickly move on to something else lest you have nothing else to talk about, Mr. Sonic."

"Eh, I already had another question ready for me courtesy of the prosecutor just now," the defense attorney announced with a simple shrug of his shoulders. "Ms. Rose, how could you possibly forget about the picture you took when the police arrived? After all, you said it yourself that you figured it would be of great importance to them."

"…To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure when I actually forgot about the picture," the pink hedgehog responded as she looked confused for the first time she took the stand. "Now that I really think about it, it wasn't anywhere near my mind when the police came and started asking me questions. The only thing that could've made me forget about something so important as that is having seen something else even more amazing than what was in front of me."

"You can't remember what made you forget?" the Judge repeated as he seemingly failed to notice how oxymoronic his statement was. "From the previous testimonies you've provided to the court, I'm sure you're not the type of person to just forget about an important detail. Could you please try to remember what it was that made you forget?"

"I object, Your Honor!" the veteran prosecutor spoke up upon hearing what the Judge was suggesting and trying to stop him. "I fail to see how having the witness try to remember about what she forgot has any importance. That and people don't usually remember what they forget so easily."

"Well, I'm inclined to believe that there's always an exception to occasions like this, Prosecutor Mephiles," the old man responded calmly as he seemed unfazed this time by the prosecutor's objection. "That and I trust the witness in that she isn't lying about anything due to her exceptionally truthful nature from her previous testimonies. I'm afraid I'll have to overrule your objection. If it isn't too much trouble, Ms. Rose, can you please try to remember what it was that made you forget?"

"…Please give me a moment to think," Amy responded after a moment of hesitation and closing her eyes as she tried to remember about what had surprised her to the point of forgetting. As she requested, everybody in the courtroom remained silent for a few seconds as she thought hard about what else that might have happened at the Mobius Docks that morning. "…I-I think I might remember something."

"Do you now?" the Judge asked as his voice sounded happy at this revelation. "If you don't mind, could you add this to your testimony?"

"If you feel it's important, then sure."

_**New Statement(s)**_

I think the thing that made me forget about having taken a picture was something I saw in the distance through the thick fog. I believe there was some kind of bright flash at the lighthouse a couple of moments before I took the picture.

_**End New Statement(s)**_

"You saw a bright flash coming from the lighthouse?" Sonic repeated upon hearing this new detail. "What's so unusual about a flash of light from a building meant to periodically shine off bright light? I wouldn't have paid it a second thought much less forget about something important because of it."

"But this wasn't the kind of light that you'd typically see from a lighthouse!" Amy quickly countered as she tried to elaborate on her explanation. "The lighthouse light was already on, so it wasn't that I got distracted on, and the kind of flash I saw didn't look like even a light that was just turned on and flickered off. It really was like…like someone turned on a flashlight and immediately turned it off. It kind of irritated my eyes and made me accidentally take a picture before I felt I was ready to."

"It's kind of hard to tell that you accidentally took the Photograph the way you took it," the Judge responded as he looked at the picture on the cell phone again. "It seems to be focused quite well with no signs of being startled."

"Well, I am quite handy with a camera being the photographer for the Mobius High newspaper, so I suppose I'm more than likely to take good pictures even right after being startled," the pink hedgehog stated with a hint of pride in her tone. "Anyway, I'm guessing I took that picture about a second after that bright flash startled me. Until the police had arrived, I had been wondering just what it was, but I forgot all about it when they started bombarding me with questions and whatnot."

"Humph, it seems as though you like to forget about certain details when unsuspected surprise and stress sneak up upon you, Ms. Rose," Mephiles stated with an unbelievable half-smile on his lips in a tone that spoke how ready he was to refute these new details. "Were it not for the fact that you've already been established to have been a reliable witness, the court would think your testimony to be nothing but assumptions and inconsistencies. In fact, I'm starting to have doubts about this certain occasion you just suddenly remembered yet couldn't remember long enough to tell the police."

"If you're thinking on calling me a liar in front of everybody here, then I suggest you think otherwise on your accusation!" the witness countered in a strangely calm tone while her look casted daggers at the prosecutor who seemed unfazed by the gesture. "I have classmates at school that I've been friends with since before high school who could testify to you all about how truthful I am."

"Still, that doesn't change the fact that you just conveniently forgot about a few details without any good reason," the old prosecutor countered back as he seemed intent on discrediting her current testimony. "These recent admissions of forgetfulness you've admitted to this court do not paint a pretty picture for your current testimony. I'm surprised that nobody else in here has even hinted at you being a liar yet."

"If you're so intent on trying to pin me as a liar, then why don't you provide the court some evidence that proves it? You can't just go about calling people whatever you like without anything to back it up, you know? What you're doing at this point is probably what you attorneys like to call slander. Then again, you should already know about that being you're acting like some scary, big-shot prosecutor."

"I think we better use this time to try and put some things together," Tails suggested with a low sigh as Amy and Mephiles continued to argue with each other like a couple of children on the playground. Amazingly, the Judge did not seem intent on stopping their quarrel at this time and just watched the whole thing unfold. He was probably hoping they might be able to discover something new through some unchecked outburst like what had happened earlier. "It's clear that there's something strange about Amy's Photograph that Prosecutor Mephiles didn't want us to see or figure out."

"But we still haven't found or heard about anything that would indicate something like that," Sonic stated as he reflected on the testimony they just heard and trying to discover some new information. "All we got from the witness was that she saw some kind of quick flash of light that made her accidentally take her picture prematurely. That's hardly a good enough clue to go on."

"But it's still a clue that we can work with!" the two tailed fox explained in an attempt to boost his brother's dwindling confidence. "Amy said that she took the photo a moment after she saw that strange flash at the lighthouse. There has to be something we can get to with at least that. Maybe there's something in our evidence that can help?"

"…Wait a minute here!" the cobalt hedgehog stated excitedly as his voice indicated that he managed to come up with something plausible. His eyes also seemed to shine with a renewed blaze of fire that indicated his confidence just took a huge turn in the right direction. "If that flash was what caused her to take this photo the way she took it, then maybe it also managed to capture what made it. She did say she saw the flash coming from the direction of the lighthouse, and the lighthouse itself is in pretty good view in this picture despite the heavy fog. You can't really deny the possibility that she managed to capture something other than the scene of the crime, can you?"

"I have a feeling you might be right about that, Sonic," the other agreed as he took a closer look at the lighthouse in the Photograph. At this point, the argument between Amy and Mephiles began to escalate to the point that the Judge finally had to intervene and bang his gavel to restore order. "We better hurry up and find what we're looking for before the cross-examination continues."

For the next couple of moments, the two of them were both quickly scanning the background of the Photograph while the Judge continued to restore order to the courtroom. It was quite hard to do considering that the background consisted of nothing but fog and only an outline of the lighthouse with its light gleaming brightly at its top. However, something just barely managed to catch Sonic's eye as he looked at the spot just underneath the large glowing ball of light.

"Tails, do you have any idea what this might be?" Sonic asked as he pointed to the thing that had caught his eye. "I have a feeling about what it might be, but I want your two cents on it before I say anything."

"…I don't think you need me to confirm what this most likely is," Tails responded after quickly glancing at what his older brother was pointing at. "It might be blurry, but the light above it helps to make it somewhat recognizable. It looks like a person falling down into the water. And if I'm not mistaken, there's somebody else a couple of inches above the falling one. Do you think this might be what Mephiles didn't want us to see?"

"There's only one way to find out," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a smile slowly approaching his face as he suddenly got a spontaneous idea that just might help them get out of this mess.

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Your Honor, I have something that I would like to present to the court at this moment!" Sonic loudly announced just as the argument between Amy and Mephiles finally dissipated and the Judge regained control of the courtroom. "There's something about the witness's Photograph that I believe everybody should be notified about."

"You're not seriously still going on about that damned Photograph, are you?" Mephiles growled out as it seemed he was somewhat bested by the young girl during their argument. "None of us have yet to hear anything from the witness's mouth anything new about it save a few bits of nonsense given form through conveniently forgotten thoughts."

"Unfortunately for you, my partner and I have been busy reviewing the evidence while you and the witness were busy arguing with each other," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a prideful smile as he saw the look of discontent reflect on the old prosecutor's face. Amy, on the other hand, seemed less than fazed at the mention of the less than glamorous moment she showcased in the courtroom. "We were comparing her recent testimony with the Photograph she presented to us, and I'm sure you'll all be interested in what we discovered."

"And just what is this new detail you managed to discover from the witness's Photograph?" the Judge asked with the look of intrigue written all over his face. "When I last checked the evidence, I hardly saw anything of great use besides the obvious."

"Well, I assure you that this new detail is anything but obvious. In fact, I don't believe that we would've even have thought of taking a closer look at the witness's evidence were it not for the new details from her last testimony stating something about seeing a flash before taking the picture. That was what prompted us to take a closer look at everything."

"Then why don't you hurry up and tell us what this useless detail you managed to scavenge from the evidence is?" the old prosecutor questioned with an annoyed sigh before tightly crossing his arms. "Some of us here don't really have all the time in the world to be waiting in suspense for your answer. In fact, I'm inclined to ask the Judge to call an end to this charade of a trial that you've performed for us."

"I don't think you'll believe this to be any kind of charade when I show you what we've discovered," the defense attorney responded as he brought out the Photograph once more and pointed to the section underneath the ball of light from the lighthouse. He then zoomed the overhead projector to the highest it could go without losing focus so everybody could see what he was talking about. "I would like to direct the court's attention to this area underneath the lighthouse's light. I think what you'll find here will be more than interesting."

"…Why, it looks like there are a couple of people standing underneath it," the Judge responded as he squinted and finally saw what the defense was talking about. "It may be hard to see, but the outlines clearly indicate that they are people. And if I'm not mistaken, one of them looks like he's fallen over the lighthouse railing while the second person seems to be just watching. Are you saying that this has some correlation to what Ms. Rose said in her testimony about seeing a strange flash of light?"

"That's exactly what we're alluding to," Tails confirmed with a nod of his head as he saw Mephiles's stoic face obtain a light sense of worry on it. "It would have to take something rather strong in order to produce such a light to penetrate a thick fog. I believe we've already heard of something like that in this case. Amy had said she saw a couple of bright flashes in front of her when the murder weapon was discharged. Now suppose if we applied that same logic to the bright flash she claimed she saw before she took the photo."

"A-Are you trying to imply that something took place on top of that lighthouse the moment our witness took her picture?" the Judge asked with disbelief reflecting in his tone.

"Actually, we're thinking that all of this is some kind of strange coincidence," Sonic explained before the prosecutor had a chance to get his words in. "According to Ms. Rose's testimonies, there were two separate instances where she saw bright flashes that disappeared as soon as she saw them. The first one was clearly from the gunshots that led her to the scene, so it should be safe to assume the second flash also came from a gun. That explanation makes some semblance of sense considering that this Photograph captures two people atop of a lighthouse with one of them falling into the waters below. And if indeed what this photo captured was the moments after a shooting at that lighthouse, then I find it very strange that two shootings took place at almost the exact same time."

"So what exactly is it that you're trying to suggest here?" the Judge asked as he seemed intrigued by this set of explanations.

"What I'm suggesting is that the 'murder' our witness here witnessed was nothing but a show set up so that someone would come by and picture my client as a murderer!" the cobalt hedgehog quickly explained. "And at the same time this 'crime' was being discovered, the real murderer was on top of that lighthouse shooting the victim and watching her fall to her death!"

"Ha, that's hardly an explanation worth merit over!" Mephiles quickly butted in as he tried to discredit this admittedly weak suggestion. "You have no evidence that such a thing has ever occurred. The fact that you're even suggesting something as asinine as this tells me that you've run out of things to defend your client with."

"But we believe that this isn't something that should just be overlooked as a freak coincidence!" Tails countered as he tried to sway the Judge to see things their way. "This Photograph clearly shows something taking place at that lighthouse that resulted in someone falling into the water right after Ms. Rose told us she saw a bright flash. This picture alone merits a search of the lighthouse in order to clear up any inconsistencies simply because it shows what we've just explained taking place. And it's because of that we request the Judge place a suspension to this case in order to be able to officially clear things up!"

"Having you request a suspension is an insult to the entire justice system!" the old prosecutor objected with a snarl akin to that of a feral animal. "If every attorney in the world were able to be granted more time to discover their desired answers over something as small as what you've brought to us that doesn't even have evidence to back it, then we'd all still be swamped with cases that have no end in sight. I demand that you show us some more definite evidence that what you're saying about the lighthouse being the real scene of the crime is the truth! Otherwise, I'll continue to object even after I turn blue in the face!"

"You can object all you want, but the evidence that proves whether or not that lighthouse is the real scene of the crime rests within that building!" the two tailed fox countered back as he seemed more than confident that this was going to end in their favor. "If we're not allowed a suspension so that we can spend a day searching that place, then there's no way we're ever going to get an answer clear of any doubt for this case. After all, don't we owe it to everybody in the courtroom, especially the defendant, to provide an unbiased sentence to ensure that every path that leads to a potential end has been checked? Not checking every one of these said paths can be considered a disservice to the law!"

"Anybody can hide behind pretty words like the ones you've just spewed out that mouth of yours, but the fact remains you failed to provide any evidence whatsoever that what you're suggesting is even the truth! Have you even taken into consideration that what the witness just said might be her attempt to keep us from the coveted truth? After all, she has already admitted to us that she thought of protecting the witness by refusing to show the police the Photograph she had taken of the scene. Perhaps she managed to come up with a plausible excuse to help speed along his acquittal."

"That's some pretty strong words coming from a man who seems intent on hiding the truth from us himself!" Amy countered upon hearing her character being put under fire once again. "You're nothing but a common bully who feels he has the right to do whatever he wants simply because you have more experience than everybody combined in here! I ought to consider writing an article to the Mobius Times showcasing your terrible behavior and conduct you've shown in this courtroom!"

"Putting the witness's childish threat aside, there's still one thing that you're overlooking if you plan to continue pursuing this dead end," Mephiles continued on with a loud sigh that was clearly meant to accentuate his annoyance at the current situation. "Are you simply going to abandon every point that you've been so tenaciously arguing about up until now? You seemed quite adamant that the time discrepancy in when the defendant and witness heard the gunshots held some special meaning."

"That was before we discovered another shooting at the lighthouse!" Sonic explained as he now tried to discredit everything he had been arguing about earlier. "If we can just get a chance to investigate that building, then we can show that everything I've been talking about was just a road that was meant to deceive us all. I only ask the Judge a chance to prove my claim by granting a suspension of this trial!"

"I've heard enough!" the Judge announced loudly as he banged his gavel in order to stop the exchange that was clearly becoming heated. "Allow me to voice my opinion on this.

"I am inclined to believe that the defense is simply grasping at straws to be voicing small coincidences presented in a Photograph presented by the witness," he explained calmly as Sonic visibly winced at this. "As such, I'm partial to believing the prosecutions explanation of events being that the defense has failed to provide any evidence that argues against it.

"However," he quickly added as he saw the triumphant smirk appear on the old prosecutor's face, "the fact that such a coincidence exists and seems to depict almost the same scenario posed in this case bothers me. The chances of two guns being used for murder purposes at almost the same exact time with the cause of death seemingly the same are nigh impossible. This is casting a small shadow of doubt that I cannot overlook when making my decision. As such, I shall grant the defense's request and suspend this trial until tomorrow so that they can investigate this lighthouse. That is my final decision on this matter, and I will not be hearing any refutes on it unless either side has great proven reason to challenge it."

"… …I suppose I have no choice but to comply with Your Honor's wishes," Mephiles conceded after spending a few quiet moments thinking to himself. It was apparent he could not come up with a suitable argument to challenge the Judge's decision. He then added with a small sense of amusement, "I never thought my success would be postponed by some nameless rookie. Then again, it's been a while since I've had to fight for my catch, so I suppose I could use this chance to have some rare fun."

"Then the court recognizes the defense's request and call on a suspension to this trial!" the old Judge exclaimed as he banged at his gavel to make it official. "Court is now adjourned for the day!"

"God, I can't believe we actually made it this far!" Sonic exclaimed upon hearing his temporary victory being granted to him after such a hard day at court. "I thought we'd never get another chance to find some new information."

"But this also means that Mephiles will be able to review the evidence and try to put more roadblocks in our way," Tails explained as he kept his eyes on said prosecutor who was gathering his stuff and readying to leave the courtroom. Amy had since been escorted off of the witness stand by the bailiff and was out of the courtroom. "We better use this suspension to try and get some concrete evidence that can withstand his harsh prosecuting skills."

"I'd be more worried about wondering whether or not that lighthouse is even a real lead," Shadow's voice suddenly cut into their conversation. "If that's all you have as a basis of this suspension, then you better hope there are some good answers there."

"Hey, it was all we could do to get to this point, Shadow!" the cobalt hedgehog responded as he turned around and saw the ebon furred hedgehog standing on the other side of the table. "That and we only came up with this idea by looking at the Photograph that crazy prosecutor was trying to hide from us. I have a feeling it was because of this he didn't want Amy to show us her picture."

"Just concentrate on the investigation that you'll no doubt be doing today," the defendant responded as the bailiff returned and began to escort him back to the Detention Center. "And make sure you find something worthwhile that won't get you kicked out of here tomorrow by Mephiles."

"That's easier said than done, Shadow," the two tailed fox responded with a low sigh as he helped his older brother pack up their things and ready themselves for a potentially long night of investigating the lighthouse for answers that might hold answers as to why there was an almost similar scene taking place at the same time the murder was supposedly taking place on the Mobius Docks.

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Photograph: A picture taken by Amy Rose that shows Shadow crouched to the ground with a gun in his hand before the police arrived at the scene. The background is quite blurry because of the fog, but the faint outline of a lighthouse is seen along with the bright flash from the lighthouse light on top. For some reason, Prosecutor Mephiles seemed intent on hiding this from the courts.

**New Profile:**

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

**Updated Evidence****:**

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

**Updated Profile:**

Mephiles: An old hedgehog of sixty-five with over thirty years worth of experience in the court of law as a prosecutor. His ruthlessness in the courtroom are well-known by all who work within the courtroom. There are rumors that he forges evidence and fixes witnesses' testimonies so cases will go his way because of his impossibly no-lose record, but all are unfounded.

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><p>Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope that you all enjoyed it, especially since I've been on hiatus mode for a couple of months. Hopefully, the next update won't take as long, although this whole chapter was pretty long and caused me to be put in a hole so many times.<p>

And yes, I know that the Photograph is new evidence, but it also became updated at the same time sometime after being presented. As such, I figured that it would only be fitting to be both presented as new and updated evidence so as to cause less confusion along the road.

Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody! And don't forget to leave a review before you run away to another story.


	19. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 5

Hello everybody! Allow me to say that this is not only an update. This is also an addition to the current nineteenth chapter that I felt could be blended in with the twentieth chapter. I had originally decided to keep the two chapters separate, but that chapter had somehow managed to merge itself into this chapter. That was when I decided to put these two together. Just so that you won't have to end up having to reread the whole thing just to get to the new section, I'll give you the sentence where the new addition starts out at. You can just use your computer's search function to look for it and make it easier on yourself instead of just blindly searching and continuously passing it.

"After spending a couple of minutes walking down the stairs in rather contemplative silence, they both finally found their feet resting on the first floor of the lighthouse where they had first started their investigation." I know it's a pretty long sentence, but you should be able to get to it once you type in the first few words on it. Hope you enjoy the new addition.

Anyway, the reason why I had added Amy in the last chapter was because of two reasons. The first one was because there were a few people who left me private messages asking for her appearance along with one lone reviewer. The second reason is simply because I noticed I never placed her in the story and wanted to. It's as simple as that. And for those of you with some kind of speculation, she is not related to the victim from the last case, Ms. Kuro Rose. That part is just great coincidence that I never noticed at that time. I'm just lazy to be making a note of that in this story.

Well, I noticed that I've been giving you all a bit of the runaround concerning the LK-9 Incident for a little while. I'm sure most of you are really wondering what the heck does that case have to do with this story. If it'll make you all feel better, I've decided that I'll give out a little bit more detail regarding that case in this chapter. Mind you that it's not going to be the amount that would make a general case summation, but it should leave you with a few more new unanswered questions that I'm sure you're all already tired of trying to have figured out.

Let me go ahead and place the evidence and profiles that we have thus far so you can review them if you're actually playing along instead of just reading through like any other story.

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: A seventeen year old blue furred male hedgehog. He works in Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm office and is currently on track on becoming a full-fledged attorney and escape from fledgling status.

Miles Prower: Best known by his nickname Tails. He's a twelve-year-old yellow-orange furred fox with two tails. After his performance in the previous case at the local Precinct, Dr. Robotnik has taken him in as the firm's local on-scene detective.

Knuckles Echidna: He is an eighteen-year-old red furred echidna detective who works at the local precinct and is good friends with Sonic and Tails.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old prosecutor who doesn't like nonsense and is childhood friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He's currently being held by the police under suspicion of murdering one of his coworkers at the Mobius Docks.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old Senior Detective down at the Local Precinct. He was the first detective to have received the call about a disturbance at the Mobius Docks and has thus assumed leadership over the initial investigation.

Flora Mae: A prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office. She was Shadow's coworker and was discovered to have been murdered only after Shadow heard the sound of gunshots at the dock and quickly went to investigate it.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Mephiles: An old hedgehog of sixty-five with over thirty years worth of experience in the court of law as a prosecutor. His ruthlessness in the courtroom are well-known by all who work within the courtroom. There are rumors that he forges evidence and fixes witnesses' testimonies so cases will go his way because of his impossibly no-lose record, but all are unfounded.

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><p>Well, that's it for the review on the evidence and profiles discussed thus far. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always helpful in keeping me writing these mysteries for all of you, and I take them seriously if there are any suggestions or constructive criticism that you might give out.<p>

Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 19: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 5<br>**

"And do you honestly think that you'll be able to discover the answer you're looking for by investigating a building that theoretically doesn't have anything to do with any of this if not for the picture that Amy girl took showing some kind of incident happening?" Knuckles asked as he sat behind the wheel of his Precinct-issued car with Sonic sitting next to him and Tails in the back. They had left straight from the courthouse after the trial was suspended by some work of a miracle on the hedgehog's part. "As much as I would like to help you two with this, I kind of have better things to do than to act as a personal chauffer and a personal detective for choice investigations. Unlike Silver, I'm not at a high enough position at the Precinct to be picking and choosing what cases I want to work on."

"But you were the only person I could think of asking to bring us down here without the thought of being turned down," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "And I did think about asking Silver for help on this being that he's in charge with the investigation, but he had already left the courthouse by the time I finished packing up my stuff. I don't know where he went, but there was no way I could ask him for permission to see the lighthouse then. Not many detectives really know or trust me enough to be at a crime scene other than you two, so I kind of had my hands tied in trying to get some much needed answers. I'm sure he'd let us do some investigating if he's at the lighthouse, but we at least need to get there before we can ask."

"If you don't mind me asking, Knuckles, what are these other things that you have to do?" Tails asked as he tried to change the conversation. He had been listening to the mini-argument for the past five minutes and was starting to get tired of it. "I can't imagine you being busy about something other than Shadow's case right now."

"I can't really concern myself on that because I haven't been assigned to the case," the echidna explained as they were nearing the Mobius Docks where the murder allegedly took place. "And I can't really go about asking Silver for a role in it because I'm right now swamped in paperwork. And on top of that, I still haven't gotten around to asking Vector just what that black cat yesterday wanted to talk to him about."

"What black cat?" the defense attorney asked with a hint of confusion in his voice that quickly changed into that of realization. "Oh, you're talking about that Salemand Eres guy from yesterday, aren't you? I completely forgot about him! Vector still hasn't said anything to you about him yet, huh?"

"I just said I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it! Don't you ever listen to a word I say, Sonic? I swear; you do things like this just to annoy the hell out of me!"

"Jeez, sorry about that, Knux. You're not the only one with things on your mind right now, you know? I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to be handling myself against that Mephiles guy when I see him in court tomorrow. I'm telling you, he was worse than ruthless when I faced off with him today. Just imagine how he's going to be tomorrow when he has more ammunition up his sleeve to work against me."

"I've only heard stories about him through other detectives in the Precinct saying how unbelievably ruthless he is. Now that I'm hearing it from you, I guess I can't really say now that everybody was just exaggerating. Oh well, all I can do is wish you luck tomorrow and hope you end up surviving the legal slaughter fest."

"It might as well have been an actual slaughter fest today with the way he kept shooting down everything we threw at him!" the two tailed fox responded with a frustrated sigh escaping from his lips. "Even I had a hard time just trying to get something plausible through him! That's really saying something there, you know?"

"I think that Shadow believed that you two would end up pulling through, though," Knuckles responded as they neared the lighthouse and started slowing down. "If you weren't doing much of a job at defending him, I'm sure he probably would've suddenly called for your dismissal and try his hand at defending himself. You know how impatient he tends to be when he's forced to rely on someone temporarily to get good results and they're not doing much of a job working at it."

"Yeah, he practically kicked me off of a science project we were partnered on once when we were in junior high," Sonic recalled as he gave off a small chuckle just as the car passed by some parked police cars that were surrounding the area where the crime was first discovered. "He'd probably have done the same thing here if I were doing a bad job."

"From what I've heard Shadow tell me once, you almost ended up making a small chemical bomb before he stopped you," Tails stated as he thought back to when he first heard the junior high story. "He managed to cover for your mistake and correct it, but he made sure that you were nowhere near the chemicals again."

"O-Oh, I…kind of forgot about that part," the cobalt hedgehog responded sheepishly while Knuckles shook his head in amusement before stopping the car in front of the lighthouse. "At least the teacher didn't catch and expel us for creating a potentially lethal weapon or something like that."

"How about you guys get out of my car before you scare my transmission so much with your explosion stories that you really make it go up in flames?" the echidna said in a teasing tone as he unlocked the doors for the other two to get out. "Unless I was just seeing things, I think we passed Silver's car back from the main investigating area. You better ask him for permission to look around the lighthouse while you still have the chance."

"Thanks for the ride, Knuckles!" the two tailed fox thanked the other as he exited the car. Sonic chanced one harsh glare at the other for the comment about explosions before getting out himself.

"About time you guys got here," Silver's voice suddenly cut in from seemingly out of nowhere. All three turned their heads towards the lighthouse and saw Silver walking out of the building through a door that had just opened. "And don't even think about trying to drive back to the Precinct, Knuckles."

"Silver, you know that I have other things I need to take care of," Knuckles responded as the senior detective walked up to the door that Sonic had left open after stepping aside. "The guys at the Precinct aren't letting me do anything else until I finish up the stupid report defending my decision from when I decided to keep the police away when we found you beaten to a pulp and Ms. Rose dead."

"I've already taken care of that with your boss," the silver furred hedgehog bluntly responded as he lightly leaned against the door so that it could not be closed. "I've allowed him to let you assist me with investigating this lighthouse. I would've let you take a look around by yourself, but I don't think he would've agreed to let you off paperwork duty unless I told him that you were the only detective left I could assign as an assistant."

"…Are you trying to make me become behind in my work and get me fired?" the red echidna asked before letting out an annoyed sigh and turning off his car engine. He knew better than to argue with Silver on things like this, especially when it has already been done. "I honestly don't have the time to be doing investigations right now. I could care less whether or not you enlisted me as your assistant detective; I really need to finish all of the paperwork that's piling up on my desk!"

"I promise to help you out with them once we're done with this, but I felt it important that you be here along with Sonic and Tails," the senior detective explained as he closed the car door as the other detective exited and locked it before putting the keys in his vest pocket. "I have a feeling you'll all be more than interested in taking a look at this lighthouse."

"Have you been here ever since I persuaded the Judge in posting a suspension because of what Amy's Photograph showed in the background?" Sonic asked as Silver took the lead and led them all towards the lighthouse. "I couldn't find you when I wanted to ask you for permission to search this place?"

"I've actually been here ever since you announced that something happened here. I'm not sure if any of you remember this, but this lighthouse is pretty important to you all. I guess it's also important to me being that it was the first place I worked at as an intern detective two years ago. I'd say it's also pretty important to Shadow, too."

"How is this place important to us all?" Tails asked as the door was opened and the senior detective ushered them inside before him. "I really don't think that any of us have been here before with the exception of you."

"It's where we all met for the first time, although I rather it had been in better conditions than they were then."

"…Oh, no," the cobalt hedgehog groaned out as he suddenly realized something and stopped in his tracks. Both Tails and Knuckles almost ran into him because of the sudden stop. "You're not talking about what I think you're talking about, are you?"

"Wait a minute," the two tailed fox wondered thoughtfully as he quickly recovered and took a look at the lighthouse. "Some of the stuff here kind of looks familiar. It's almost as if I've been here before."

"…You were here before!" Knuckles announced as he finally got a good look at the room and took in a deep breath from shock. "You, Sonic, Shadow, and I were held captive here in the events that led to the existence of the LK-9 Incident!"

"I was just as surprised as you when I heard about this place being a crime scene once again," Silver stated with a sigh as he turned on a switch that was on the wall that allowed the lights to turn on. "Don't forget that I've been working on trying to solve the LK-9 Incident during every moment of working free time I could get. I'm pretty familiar with a good portion of the key details in those files, and I know better than most on the detective force about things concerning the details. I immediately recognized this place when Sonic first introduced it in court earlier this afternoon."

"I never thought I'd be back here again," the defense attorney responded with another low groan as he forced himself to take a look around. It looked pretty much like a regular house's living room with couches and tables placed in a neat and organized fashion. Towards the back was a door that was currently open and clearly led lower into the lighthouse, a part of the building he remembered all too clearly. "Please tell me we're not going to go checking the basement area. I already don't feel comfortable enough being here."

"Don't worry; I was thinking of checking things out down there myself," the silver furred hedgehog explained with an understanding wave of his hand as he headed towards the door in the back. "You and Tails just bother with checking the top of the lighthouse where you said something happened. I would like Knuckles to examine things on this floor for anything that might pertain to your case or the LK-9 Incident. After all, he has helped me more than a few times on that, so he's more than qualified to be looking for things regarding that incident. That okay with you, Knuckles?"

"I'll be more than happy to search this place once you tell me who owns this damned lighthouse and how you managed to get in here," the echidna responded as he was the first in the group of three to regain his composure. "I'm quite amazed that you managed to get a warrant to search this place so quickly."

"I called and asked Vector to get them in order when I left the courthouse, and they were ready by the time I got here," the senior detective stated as he stopped in front of the door and turned around to face the other three. "Anyway, the names of the owners of this lighthouse are Maxwell and Lois Pryce; the man prefers to be called Max as noted on a letter I found addressed to him on the desk. They were once well known entrepreneurs in the seafood business, but they quit when their business was bought out from underneath them by their partner and changed into a shipping goods business. They both have been living here and keeping the lighthouse in order ever since. I'm still looking into who this third business partner is, but I doubt that the person really has anything to do with the case. But still, he might come up as a witness in case we end up charging this Max guy for accessory to murder."

"Why charge Mr. Pryce but not his wife?" Tails asked as he saw a set of stairs leading upward and moved towards it before stopping short from the first step. "I would think that they both have an equal opportunity of having a hand at whatever happened up here two days ago. Or are you telling me that she already has an established alibi?"

"First of all, they were brother and sister living under the same roof in a seemingly good familial relationship. Secondly, believe me when I say her alibi couldn't be any more concrete. The starting reports on the LK-9 Incident have recorded that she died at the hands of the people who chose to use this place as their holding cell for you three. Unless she somehow came back from the dead, I really don't think she had anything to do with this particular incident we're looking into. That only leaves Mr. Pryce as our suspect."

"So this Max guy wasn't involved in our kidnapping?" Sonic asked as he could not help but let his eyes wander and soak in the view of the room that was kept in neat order. "Where was he on the day that this all happened?"

"The reports say that he had a strong alibi in that he was visiting his parents at the hospital that day. Mrs. Pryce had returned home early so as to prepare for the foggy night that was coming that day."

"As much as I would like to relive the ever so wonderful details of that day," Knuckles interrupted in a sarcastic tone, "can we please get back to Shadow's case? Where is Mr. Pryce right now?"

"I had him taken down to the Precinct for further questioning the moment I got here," Silver simply explained. "The police were already here still taking a look at the scene outside, so it was a simple matter at getting him out of here. We pretty much have full reign of this place for the time being, so don't hesitate in looking at whatever you think might be suspicious. That reminds me, do you and Tails have gloves on, Sonic?"

"You know we're both in a habit of wearing them," said cobalt hedgehog responded as he held up his hands to show the senior detective his covered hands as his little brother did the same. "Now how about we hurry up and start searching this place before we waste all our time talking about something that has nothing to do with the current case?"

"Then you two go search the upper sections of the lighthouse while Knuckles hangs out down here on the first floor," the senior detective quickly recapped as he turned around and made his way down to the basement. "I'll be down here if any of you guys need me! And don't let anybody else in here except for the police, Knuckles!"

"As if I had any intention to let regular people in," the detective said with a sigh before putting on a pair of black gloves he kept in his vest pocket. He then said as he began to examine the area, "You two hurry up and see if you can find anything to help Shadow's case up there. I'll take care of things down here."

"Way ahead of you there!" Tails yelled out as he was already halfway up the set of spiraling stairs with Sonic quietly trailing behind him.

"This is definitely going to be more than interesting," Knuckles murmured under his breath as he was now left alone to search the living room area that he noted was also connected to both a kitchen and a small study area. "Not only are we looking for something related to Shadow's case; we're also looking for anything that might have been from the LK-9 Incident almost three years ago. Maybe we can finally dig up something new. I just hope we can make it work before the statute of limitations runs out in two days."

"Sonic, are you alright?" Tails asked once both he and his older brother made it to the top of the long spiral staircase that took almost a minute to walk up. "You've been quiet ever since we've started climbing up the lighthouse."

"I'm fine as I can be considering what I've just learned about this place," Sonic responded with a shrug of his shoulders as he began to look around and noticed a lot of stuff laying against the glass wall that had to deal with the large lighthouse light sitting in the center of the otherwise barren room. "I never thought I'd be back to the place that made me into the person I am now. I'm kind of hoping you don't remember what happened three years ago."

"Have you ever heard of me forgetting something both traumatic and important in my life?" the two tailed fox responded as he turned around and looked at the hedgehog straight in the eyes with his arms crossed. It was clear from even a mile that he was being completely serious. "And even if I had a choice on whether or not I wanted to forget about the fact I was kidnapped along with you, Knuckles, and Shadow, I wouldn't consider it. Even though it's a pretty bad memory that might stick with me for the rest of my life, it's what makes me who I am today. I've always liked learning about new things, but I probably wouldn't have had the drive like I do today if it weren't for that incident. Besides, I think you should be more worried about yourself than for me. After all, you lost a lot that day."

"…I'd like to think that we all lost something that day," the cobalt hedgehog stated in a sort of morbid tone before he started to look around the room. "Shadow and I just ended up getting the worst end of the stick. I guess Knuckles also did, too, considering how Shadow's dad was the one who taught him everything about detective work."

"…I think we better start concentrating on our work here," the fox said after a moment's silence as he joined in on the search for some key evidence. "We can delve into our past some other time."

For the next few minutes, both guys silently scoped out the room with careful hands and eyes in search of anything suspicious. It was unfortunately quite tedious work being that there was nothing interesting except for the normal things that were to be expected in the upkeep of a lighthouse. They had soon explored every single spot that they could and still failed to unearth anything new.

"So much for that idea," the defense attorney stated with a despondent sigh after uncovering nothing helpful to their case. "We failed to find anything that shows any indication that something happened here during the time Amy saw Shadow with a gun in his hands. I am so going to be the laughingstock of the courtroom tomorrow when Mephiles catches wind of how I utterly failed at this."

"Hey, it's too soon to start thinking about that," Tails reassured his big brother before pointing to an open glass door that both had noticed a long time ago. "We still haven't even checked outside on the lighthouse balcony yet. We might end up finding something there that'll help make our case. After all, the Photograph did show something happening outside since someone fell over the side."

"And if we don't have anything here, then we're probably going to have to summon that Mr. Pryce guy who owns this place as a witness. I doubt he'd be much help since Mephiles is probably going to pull another stunt like he did today. I'm seriously going to die if I have to work that hard for information again."

"Stop whining like a little kid and start looking for something that will help us!" the two tailed fox simply stated with a roll of his eyes as he took Sonic by the wrist and dragged him out to the lighthouse balcony. "You'll be able to whine as much as you want once we searched every single spot we can."

Once outside, they saw that the balcony almost extended around the whole exterior of the lighthouse. It had stopped short towards the river section and probably looked almost like a horseshoe shape if looked from above. The Lighthouse Railing that protected people from falling over extended up to an adult's waist with lots of threaded wiring extending to the balcony floor and kept so close together that not even a fly could fly through it.

"Hmm, looks like we already have one similarity between here and the victim," Sonic mused as he seemed to have quickly broken out of his semi-depressed slump. "If Ms. Mae really were pushed hard into the water after being shot, then this railing is the same height as the one on the docks. We're going to need more than this, however, if we plan on convincing the courts that this lighthouse is the right place."

"Hey, I can see the police all the way from here!" Tails exclaimed happily as he looked over the railing that was at his upper chest level. Sonic had no worries that he might accidentally fall over and to the ground or water being that he had to actually climb over the railing for that to be possible. "I doubt, though, that we could see them were this a foggy morning like when this all happened because of the lack of any bright light like this. This should be the spot where Amy's Photograph barely managed to capture whatever happened. We should concentrate our search around here."

"Way ahead of you, little brother," the cobalt hedgehog responded happily as he crouched down and began to inspect the ground area. "If a gun really was fired, then there might be a bullet casing around here provided that the perpetrator was too in-the-moment or just plain stupid. I think the Photograph showed the person falling into the water at the end of the railing path over here, so why don't you check over there?"

"My turn to be way ahead of you," the two tailed fox announced in a sort of playful fashion as he was already searching the railing where they assumed whoever died up here fell over. It was not even five seconds later before he let out a breath of surprise. "Well, it looks like I managed to find something potentially useful here. Want to guess what I found? Come on; try to guess."

"I doubt that it's the ultimate answer to every single question this case keeps on digging up. Why don't you just tell me instead of making me play 20 Questions? I'm not really up to it right now."

"I'm seeing a small spot of dried Blood on the other side of this Lighthouse Railing," the other responded. "If this ends up being Ms. Mae's blood, then we've got a pretty big break in our case."

"And if that doesn't work, then this might open up a small hole," the defense attorney added as he got up with his right hand in a fist as if he had something in it. "But let me see the Blood first. Do you honestly think that it's possible for our victim's Blood to be on the railing? She was pushed into the water right after being shot."

"But she was probably still standing on this balcony for maybe a couple of seconds at most. It probably takes about three seconds after the button that takes pictures on a camera is pressed before it's actually created. When the Photograph was ready to become what it is now, our victim was already over the railing and falling to the water. With that in mind, it's my guess that she probably brought a hand to her wound for a split second before feeling her waist hitting the railing and grabbing it. That was when she was shoved hard enough for there to be a bruise on her lower waist."

"That's a pretty good idea, but we still need to know if it belongs to Ms. Mae before we can say that's the truth. Let's go downstairs and ask Silver or Knuckles to get someone up here to get some tests done on it."

"Hold on a moment, Sonic," Tails said before Sonic could leave the balcony. "You still haven't told me what you managed to figure out yet."

"Oh yeah, I managed to find a single Bullet Casing about three or so feet from where you found the Blood," Sonic explained as he remembered what was in his fist and showed it to the two tailed fox. "I'm guessing they were already out here talking since there aren't any broken windows caused from a bullet flying through it. If this casing matches the bullet that murdered Ms. Mae, then this will prove that she was killed up here and that the scene on the dock was nothing but a set-up!"

"And if we can prove that what we both found are connected to our case, then we'd probably need to figure out next just what was it that both Shadow and Amy heard falling into the river then," the young fox responded with a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm pretty sure that Mephiles is going to jump on us with that if we don't explain what it was they heard on the docks."

"Then I guess that's the next place we have to search for evidence before we go back to court tomorrow," the cobalt hedgehog announced as he went back into the lighthouse with his little brother close behind and was heading down the stairs. "Even if what we found proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ms. Mae was murdered up here, there's nothing speaking against the thought that Shadow probably murdered somebody else at the docks instead and that they failed to drag up the body. We believe that he didn't kill anybody, so the only other explanation is that there was something heavy dropped into the river right after both of them heard some kind of gunshot."

"Wait a minute!" the fox exclaimed as he stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the stairs. His older brother also stopped and turned around to face him. "If that Bullet Casing proves that she was shot here, then there's something very wrong here. How the heck did the gun that murdered her manage to both find its way to the docks and have Shadow's fingerprints all over it? There's only one murder weapon on this case, but the data we've got now seems to indicate a Fake Murder Weapon!"

"But that's impossible being that there's only one gunshot wound on Ms. Mae's body! That and it matches with the gun we have as evidence right now. If she was killed here at the same time the set-up was taking place at the docks, then that would mean the gun the police took in from the dock as evidence was the Fake Murder Weapon… Oh, please don't tell me someone on the force ended up switching the evidence or something like that."

"That would be the most reasonable answer if not for the fact that there's one thing completely impossible about it," Tails responded while rubbing at his forehead as if trying to stave off an oncoming headache stemming from all the complicated thinking. "Shadow's fingerprints are on the gun. If they wanted to make a successful switch, they would also need to find a way to get his prints on it. This is one argument we definitely can't be presenting to the court since there's nothing to even back it up."

"Hmm, looks like it's a job we'll need one of our detective friends to look into," Sonic stated with a thoughtful hum emanating from his throat. He then said as he turned around and continue down the stairs, "We'll let one of them take care of that while we concentrate on doing what we can."

"Let's just hope that they can get some good answers for us before the case is over," the two tailed fox responded with a sigh before following his brother down the stairs and back to the first floor where Knuckles was no doubt still searching for evidence. "It isn't going to be worth much to us if they figure things out after everything's over and ending in the prosecution's favor."

After spending a couple of minutes walking down the stairs in rather contemplative silence, they both finally found their feet resting on the first floor of the lighthouse where they had first started their investigation. However, they did not see Knuckles anywhere and wondered just where he wandered off to. After all, he was supposed to be investigating the first floor.

"Well, that was a surprisingly quick examination of the upper area of the lighthouse," Knuckles suddenly responded in light surprise once the two were back on the first floor. They saw the other looking towards them from his position behind the kitchen counter. "I was figuring that you'd both take a bit longer considering this was the chance you fought so hard for in court. You either found a lot of evidence pertaining to your case, or you found nothing and just decided to give up. Which is it?"

"Do you really think that we'd give up that easily?" Sonic asked with a slight roll of his eyes as he approached the echidna with the Bullet Casing still in his gloved hand and showing it to him. "Shadow's counting on us to find some evidence here and get him out of jail. It'd be a disservice to him if we gave up without knowing whether or not that we've gone as far as we can. We only came back down because we found a couple of things that we thought you might be interested in looking at."

"Is that a Bullet Casing?" the echidna asked as he dropped what he was doing and walked over to the living room where the other two had stopped. He then asked while taking the casing, "I can't believe there's something like this here. This might sound like a stupid question, but where did you find it?"

"On the lighthouse's balcony," Tails explained as he looked around and saw that Silver was still down in the basement. "And that wasn't the only out-of-place thing we found. There was also a small spot of Blood on the balcony railing, but we need some test results done on it. If our hunch is right, both of these things have some kind of relation to Ms. Mae, and that would tie this place in with her murder."

"A stray Bullet Casing and a spot of Blood on a lighthouse balcony railing," the detective murmured under his breath in thought. "These are things you don't usually associate with a place like this unless it holds some kind of connection to a crime. You both sure did a whole lot better than me down here. I only managed to find trash and other normal stuff. I did manage to find some Paperwork that mentions him occasionally going to the doctor, but they don't really specify the reason for doing so nor the times he went."

"Then maybe you could get someone to go to his doctor and figure out his reasons for visiting there," the two tailed fox suggested as he decided to take a seat on the sofa after checking that there was nothing important on there that he might accidentally disturb. "Perhaps you might discover a suitable alibi protecting him from suspicion on the day of the murder. I'm not sure whether or not he's involved with this murder, but his lighthouse home is a scene of something rather suspicious. In the meantime, Sonic and I will be trying to gather some more information at the docks."

"So you really are going with that argument in court tomorrow that this was the actual scene of Ms. Mae's murder, are you? Well, I suppose it could be more than doable if these two things you found on the balcony clearly pertain to her murder. Just give me some time to run some tests on these in order to see if they are even related to this case. They aren't going to be much use to you as they are right now."

"We were hoping that you'd be able to do that," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a thankful smile approaching his lips. "Of course, that's provided if you're allowed to go back to the Precinct right now. I don't really want to pull you away from here if you found something new or important to the LK-9 Incident."

"Well, it kind of depends whether or not Silver still needs me here," Knuckles responded with an unsure shrug of his shoulders tagged with his answer. "To be perfectly honest, I want to stay here and see if there's anything around that pertains to the LK-9 Incident. However, Shadow's case takes priority right now. I just wish that both of these cases didn't have to reach its court date limit on the same day."

"Even if we had more time to look into that case from three years ago, I really doubt that we'd be able to learn more than the other detectives who looked into this case did," the two tailed fox stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, we're all pretty much rookies in what we do. The only person with probably a lot of experience is Silver, and he's only been a Senior Detective for about a year at most."

"But he's the only one out of us all who knows the most details regarding the incident," Knuckles explained as he went back to the kitchen and began searching the drawers before pulling out something that looked like a sandwich bag and put the Bullet Casing in it. "In fact, he's the only detective I've seen at the Precinct who even bothers looking at the case at every chance he has. It's like everybody else either forgot about it or just don't care. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the only one who knew the most up-to-date information regarding it. Only he could have a chance at moving it along now."

"And I believe the time for me to bet on that chance is right now," Silver suddenly spoke up as the other three turned to see the Senior Detective climbing up from the basement area. "After all, it isn't every day that one has the chance to examine the scene of a crime committed long ago on another unrelated case."

"Did you manage to find anything good on the LK-9 Incident down there, Silver?" Sonic asked in an obviously eager tone. "I'll even settle for you just finding something related with Shadow's case."

"I'm sorry to tell you that I didn't find anything pertaining to either of the cases that are really of great importance," the silver furred hedgehog simply responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "Apparently, this wasn't as simple to garner evidence in the basement as I thought it was going to be. Then again, I suppose I got a little overexcited when I heard that I'd be examining a place that was directly related to the LK-9 Incident. Sorry if I ended up getting any of your hopes up."

"…If you were any other detective, I'd say that you were just playing with us on this and risk my job by punching you right in the nose," the echidna responded with a hard scowl appearing on his face upon hearing this. "I should've known that it wasn't going to be that simple to solve that stupid case. I can't believe I let you drag me into this case and forsake the other stuff I have waiting to be finished back at my desk."

"If it makes you feel any better, I did manage to find something strange down there that seems pretty random yet equally important in regards to something else," the silver furred hedgehog quickly added in his defense as he pulled out from his coat pocket a neatly folded piece of paper that looked suspiciously like a letter. "It doesn't really talk about anything with either of the cases, but I think Sonic and Tails would be more than interested in taking a look at it since I think it might involve them."

"What is it?" Tails asked with raised eyebrows as he approached the senior detective and took the letter from his hands. He then unfolded it and started to read the contents to himself for about a minute or so.

"Well, what does it say?" the cobalt hedgehog asked in an impatient tone with his arms crossed. Knuckles had since gone back to exploring the kitchen for any clues he might have missed while Silver walked over to the living room and took a seat on the sofa. "It doesn't take that long to read a simple letter, does it?"

"It does if you end up having to do a double-take just to make sure you read everything correctly," the fox responded without taking his eyes off of the letter. "Where exactly did you find this, Silver?"

"The basement kind of had the look of a small office area where Mr. Pryce most likely conducted his private business," the senior detective explained with a shrug of his shoulders. "It was resting on top of a desk and looked as though it had just been read. Perhaps he was looking through it before we took him in for questioning."

"That's it; I'm going to read it myself!" the attorney growled out as he snatched the letter out of his little brother's hands and began reading it over. "I bet you're just keeping it to yourself on purpose!"

"…I'm not even going to say anything about that," Knuckles responded with clear sarcasm in his tone while rolling his eyes. "Since you're now reading it, why don't you tell me what it says?"

"_To whomever it may concern_," Sonic started to read out loud the computer-printed words before pausing momentarily to make a snarky comment. "Who the hell even writes that formally nowadays, using the full name along with a formal title of Mister? Whoever wrote this must be an old guy._ As mentioned in the previous letter we sent you that we hope you disposed of as instructed, you're connected to this blasted old case whether you like it or not. I trust I need not remind you why that is being that the memory of it should still be fresh in your mind. One false step in the wrong direction can easily be motive enough for us to have you erased._

"_With that in mind, we have a small favor to ask of you,_" he continued to read as the Letter moved on to the main topic. "_Like it was all those years ago where your life was permanently changed, we have use for your wonderful abode. I shall not divulge on the details here if by some miraculous nightmare this ends up in the wrong hands. However, this is something we feel that you should take part of. And do not forget that you cannot refuse. After all, our wonderful colleague who runs the defense attorney agency where our annoyingly lucky rookie attorney works at is always keeping tabs on you. I'll be the first to know whether or not you try to take one step out of your intended role._

"_Until the day when we meet again, Mr. Pryce. Please try to stay both free and alive until then. After all, it would be unfortunate to lose such a wonderful asset to our operations such as you. That and I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss such a 'killer' performance on the docks that's to take place in the early morning after the eve of our visit._"

"…Why do I get the feeling I know who this colleague the writer of this Letter is talking about is?" Sonic groaned out after he finished reading said Letter and folded it back up before tossing it back to Silver who had a slightly hard time catching the floating piece of paper. "And I'm not even going to mention how this seems to also talk about the case I'm currently working on right now."

"That's probably because you really do know who it's referring to," the silver furred hedgehog responded with a shrug of his shoulders and a small sigh that shared the cobalt hedgehog's sentiments while carefully pocketing the Letter for safe keeping. "I mean, there's really only one defense attorney in this town that would fit the bill as an 'annoyingly lucky rookie attorney' the Letter spoke of. As such, the colleague of the writer of this Letter who seems to be coercing Mr. Pryce is your boss, Dr. Ivo Robotnik."

"But there isn't any evidence supporting your idea except for this Letter!" Tails quickly countered as he tried to make sense of what he just read and heard. "It's possible that whoever wrote this was simply trying to scare Mr. Pryce into cooperating with him. After all, Sonic is already well-known for discovering the hidden truth in court proceedings; and Dr. Robotnik is known to be quite a successful defense attorney with a reputable name. It could be that his name is the only thing being used here by the author of this Letter. It doesn't mean that he's involved in this coercing business in any way!"

"I was just bringing it up as one of many plausible explanations, Tails!" the senior detective quickly responded as he brought his hands up in a defending manner. "Just as you are entitled to your opinions based on the evidence in front of you, I'm also allowed the same rights. And besides, I never said anything along the lines that this Letter was concrete evidence in that Dr. Robotnik is involved in something potentially illegal. I was merely alluding to the thought that this was all a bit too strange for my liking. This also seems to make short mention about the murder at the docks at the end, but it's too vague to even stand against scrutiny court if that's what it really refers to."

"Whatever it may be referring to, we don't really have enough information to make any kind of educated assumption," Knuckles responded with a frown as he crossed his arms in thought. "The only thing we can say is that the good doctor is somehow involved with whatever this Letter is talking about whether physically or only in name only. I'll try to look into it later when I have the time and see if I can dig up anything useful. However, I have a feeling that I'll have to bug Vector for his help with all this. I really need to ask him about what he talked about with that Salemand Eres guy, anyway."

"I guess we can only leave that part up to you," the cobalt hedgehog agreed with a nod of his head. "Tails and I will try and concentrate our efforts on Shadow's case and try to figure out what we can from here.

"Speaking of which," he continued on as he suddenly remembered why he came back down from the top of the lighthouse, "do you think you can give us permission to examine the dock area where this all supposedly started, Silver? Tails and I want to see if there's anything funny that might help prove that it wasn't the real murder scene or anything like that. That and you're the only guy who could give us permission to be there being that you're the one who's in charge of the whole investigation."

"If you feel that it's necessary, then I guess I can't say no to the suggestion," the silver furred detective easily agreed with a nod of his head. "Not to mention that I have my doubts about the supposed murder scene, as well. There has to be something suspicious there that I must've missed on my first search. I'll make sure that the police know that you have my permission to be there."

"Wait a minute; who's going to be keeping watch over this lighthouse if we're all gone doing our own thing?" the echidna asked with raised eyebrows just as everybody was starting to make their way outside to the docks. "I'm sure it'd be more than bad if someone decided to help themselves in and mess with a potential crime scene."

"I'll ask a couple of the policemen on staff here to watch over the entrance while we're gone. I'm sure that they can spare some of their men what with the amount of people already investigating that small area at the docks. Do you mind making sure everything stays as normal is it can here until then?"

"Do I really have a choice since I'm the only one here not planning on investigating the docks? Just make sure you don't make me wait too long and miss whatever chance I have at talking to Vector later. It's starting to get dark, and that crocodile has a tendency to answer to nobody in the time after dinner and before he clocks out. Trust me when I say that it's hard to get in touch with him when he's like that."

"Don't worry about that; he doesn't go on his dinner break until around a quarter before seven, and it's only a quarter before six," the senior detective explained as he got to the door first and opened it for Tails and Sonic. "Even in this evening traffic, you'll be able to get there in fifteen minutes and still have more than half an hour to spare. And if that doesn't make you feel better, then I promise to hurry up."

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask you for something important, Knuckles!" the two tailed fox exclaimed as he stopped short of following his brother out the door and turned around. "Could you ask Vector to look into something for me while you're meeting with him? It'd really be a big help in making Sonic's case tomorrow."

"Boy, I'm really starting to feel like a pest at having to bug the poor guy with things that take away from his current work. If it doesn't take too much effort on his part, then I'll see what I can do. I can't really promise, however, that he'll be able to work on it being that I'm about to ask him a lot already."

"While I was upstairs, I had an idea that I can't really prove unless there's some kind of hard evidence backing it. If it's true that Ms. Mae was killed here instead of at the docks, then there's something that's bothering me. If the Bullet Casing matches the bullet that killed her, then that would mean she was killed by a gun here. However, the gun that was found at the docks was tested and proved to be the murder weapon because of the ballistic markings. How can the real murder weapon be at two places at the same time? The only thing I can say that can solve this contradiction is that the weapon initially found at the docks was nothing but a Fake Murder Weapon."

"If this Bullet Casing does end up matching to the bullet that killed the good prosecutor, then I'm sure your argument there will be able to hold a lot of water," Knuckles surmised after hearing Tails's explanation about the possibility of two guns revolving around this case with the one found at the docks being a complete fake. "But I'm guessing that you want Vector to investigate just how the real murder weapon was documented to be at the docks when it was clear she was most likely killed here with the same gun. I'll make sure to have him take a look at it and get back to you as soon as possible."

"Thanks, Knuckles!" Tails thanked the detective before heading out the door in order to catch up to his brother who had stopped and looked back with an impatient look on his face. It was clear that he did not want to be kept waiting, especially when his friend's life was right now on the line. He then shouted back before he was out of earshot, "Tell Vector I said thanks and sorry for bugging him with this!"

"Knowing him, he'd probably be pissed that I'm bringing him so many things to work on that don't really pertain to what he's supposed to be doing right now," the echidna murmured under his breath as he seemingly failed to notice that Silver was still there with him until the door had closed. "Oh, I didn't know you were still here. You still have something that you want me to relay to Vector or something?"

"Actually, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't being overworked what with having to play the messenger boy along with helping me with my investigations," the silver furred hedgehog responded with an innocent shrug of his shoulders while speaking in a tone that reflected slight concern. "Put that on top with the paperwork that you have piling up on your desk and I'd say that'd be a recipe for a nervous breakdown sometime in the near future. You can't blame me for being a bit concerned for you."

"Well, I am going to be holding you partially responsible if I do end up becoming a nervous wreck and sent to the hospital to become sedated," the red furred detective responded with a serious tone but a teasing look in his eyes. "I'm sure I'll be able to manage somehow, though. Just make sure you don't try to swamp me with anymore things. I'm already having a hard time keeping track of everything I have to do right now. Otherwise, you'll be responsible for half of my hospital bill."

"And I promise to not give you anything else to do unless I absolutely have to if only to just avoid a potentially expensive bill digging a hole in my personal account. Until then, just keep on guarding this lighthouse until the police get here. I'll tell them to come in and relieve you of this so you can get to Vector. Make sure you tell him everything that you have to tell him. He's one of the greatest freelance detectives I've known, and I'm sure he'll be able to get answers that I wouldn't normally be able to get being that I'm bound by the law working in conjunction with the police."

"Why don't you hurry up and catch up to Sonic and Tails before they manage to get themselves arrested by the police for attempting to disturb the crime scene? You're the only one who can grant them permission to do so. It's best not to keep them waiting, especially when you know how short-tempered Sonic can be."

"Just let me ask you one more thing before I leave you alone," Silver responded with a small sigh as he opened the door once more and saw Sonic and Tails waiting a few yards away for him to come out. The cobalt hedgehog was visibly becoming impatient what with his arms crossed and his right foot tapping away at the ground while the two tailed fox was speaking to him in what seemed to be an attempt to relax him. "Do you really think that the Letter I found in the basement is really referring to some kind of illegal activity that involves Sonic and Tails's boss, Dr. Robotnik?"

I'm just as sure on that as I am on that the Paperwork I found on Mr. Pryce's doctor visit will provide him with a solid alibi," Knuckles answered before letting a tired sigh escape his lips. "In other words, I'm not sure on anything right now. All we can do right now is just ask Vector and hope that he'll be able to get some much needed answers for us. And hopefully, he'll be able to get them before Shadow's case is over and before the statute of limitations runs out on the LK-9 Incident."

"I really hope you're right about that," the silver furred detective said with a slightly worried tone in his tone. "There are just too many things we don't know about these two cases, and you and I can only go so far being that we work directly for the police. Just make sure to tell them that they can do whatever they have to do in order to get their information so long as it doesn't go so far as murder."

"As if he'd ever consider doing something like that and risk sacrificing his own beliefs!" the red echidna exclaimed as the senior detective finally exited the lighthouse and closed the door behind him. He then added to himself, "Honestly, just what kind of guy do you think that crazy crocodile is that you'd think he'd consider murder just to get some information? Then again, I'm probably just tired and taking this all too seriously when you're really just joking around. Boy, I better petition for some vacation time when this is all over with. God only knows how much I really need it right now."

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Blood: A small spot of blood found on the railing of the lighthouse at the Mobius Docks. Tests are required in order to determine just who it belongs to, although it is speculated to have belonged to the victim, Prosecutor Flora Mae.

Bullet Casing: A gold-colored casing that was discovered on the floor of the lighthouse balcony. Tests are required in order to determine which bullet it belongs to, although it is speculated to belong to the bullet that killed Prosecutor Flora Mae.

Fake Murder Weapon: A proposal brought about by Tails that the weapon the police took from the scene at the docks was not the real murder weapon. It's believed that there might have been a change sometime between the moment it was filed and before the case officially made it into court. It's currently just speculation and needs more evidence in order to be considered a stable possibility.

Paperwork: Papers showing Mr. Pryce going to the doctor's office occasionally. There are no dates on this particular document, so some investigating is required in order to see how recently he went to the doctor. Perhaps it might even lead to an indisputable alibi for him on the day of the murder should the lighthouse prove to be the real scene of the crime.

Letter: Found in the basement area of the lighthouse by Silver and is addressed to Mr. Pryce. It seems to indicate that Mr. Pryce in involved in something illegal against his own will. It also alludes to the murder of Ms. Mae on the docks. The last thing it alludes to is that Sonic and Tails's boss, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, is somehow involved in some illegal activity whether physically or in name only.

**Updated Evidence:**

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

**Lost Evidence:**

Bullet Casing: A gold-colored casing that was discovered on the floor of the lighthouse balcony. It has been taken by Knuckles in order to have tests done on it to see if it belongs to the bullet that killed Ms. Mae.

Paperwork: Papers showing Mr. Pryce going to the doctor's office occasionally. Knuckles has taken them with him so as to give them to Vector to look into how recently the lighthouse keeper was at the doctor's.

Letter: Found in the basement area of the lighthouse by Silver and is addressed to Mr. Pryce. The senior detective took back the letter so as to look into it and gain more information about it's mysterious contents.

**New Profiles:**

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who keeps watch over the lighthouse. He prefers to be called Max. He used to be a very successful entrepreneur in the seafood business along with his sister Lois before it was bought out from them by his partner and transformed into a shipping goods business.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

**Updated Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern.

* * *

><p>Well, that's it for all these new evidence and updates. I know that the last part of most of the character updates are pretty much the same thing, but I just wanted to make it official, so don't bash me about it in the reviews. Other than that, that's it.<p>

You know, I might be able to update a little bit more frequently than I thought I'd be able to. I'm right now taking a class that's called the History or Rock and Roll, and some of the songs I've heard on today's first class are pretty inspirational to my imagination. Hopefully, it'll be enough to help me finish this story that's getting close to it's ending.

And yep, there are a couple of new pieces of evidence that I posted here. They do not really look very important even to me, but I'm sure I'll be able to make something work with it. After all, I don't even know how this whole case is going to end, so it's as much a mystery to me as it is to all of you. Then again, that just makes it all the more enjoyable for me to write out for you all.

Anyway, that's enough with my ranting. Let me let you all go to the next story that you want to read. Just please don't forget to leave a review on this story before you move on. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!


	20. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 6

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story that I'm sure all of you have been waiting ever so patiently to pop up at any time. Well, that time is now, and I hope that you'll all enjoy it as much as I had making it despite how long it took for it to get out of the messy assembly line known as my cluttered mind.

Now I'm sure you all heard this excuse before from all my other author's notes from this and my other stories, but college is really forcing me to put on the breaks on a lot of my stories. I know how I used to really be on top of all of them, but I have a feeling that those moments of quick updates are going to continued to be slowed down until college either somehow becomes easier or when I'm finished with it. Other than that, I can promise you all that I'm working as diligently on these stories as best as I can.

And for those who would rather that I work on my college work instead of this, then don't worry. In fact, I've only spent time on this chapter after all my college finals had been completed. And that was all from last week. This entire week that I posted this new chapter is my vacation time. When the next week rolls around, that is when I'll be starting the summer quarter of college. Oh, never a day's rest from college classes, you know?

But yeah, for those of you who have followed my sad college woes, you'll know that I've been having trouble with my GPA as of late. Well, all I can say is that it didn't go any lower than it is now, but it also didn't go any higher than it was when the winter quarter was finished. At least I can say that I'm as close as I can be to having at least a 2.0 GPA, a safety line that my college wants me to be above so that they can take me out of academic probation. Because of this, I also won't be posting my chapters frequently since school work obviously comes first, especially in the precarious situation I'm right now in. And I was seriously hoping that I would do well enough this past spring quarter in order to get out of academic probation this summer.

Oh, and I'll also be working at my summer job, so I'm practically juggling both work and classes at the same time. I need to earn money during my least busy school quarter so I could at least be somewhat comfortable when I'm out of college. So truly don't be surprised if you don't see a lot of updates this coming summer.

And on that note, I really do hope that you all will have a nice and enjoyable summer. I know I will despite juggling both work and school homework at the same time. Oh well, that's just how life is these days.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. As always, I always read them and take into account any suggestions and constructive criticisms that you may have. I promise that I'm not just trying to siphon reviews from you all so that my story would look more appealing to new readers. And if you like, you can go and read one of my new stories that I started almost a month ago. It only has a few chapters right now, but it's my attempt at writing a horror-survival story. Yeah, I'm really trying to broaden my horizons and leaving my comfort zone of just primarily adventure stories that I had started out writing when I first came here over three years ago. The name is "The Biohazard Outbreak" if any of you are interested, and it's based off of the Sonic characters with a few other connections from another well known survival horror game.

Anyway, here's the evidence list for this chapter that I'm sure most of you have already forgotten from the long wait I've subjected you all to. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

* * *

><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: A small spot of blood found on the railing of the lighthouse at the Mobius Docks. Tests are required in order to determine just who it belongs to, although it is speculated to have belonged to the victim, Prosecutor Flora Mae.

Fake Murder Weapon: A proposal brought about by Tails that the weapon the police took from the scene at the docks was not the real murder weapon. It's believed that there might have been a change sometime between the moment it was filed and before the case officially made it into court. It's currently just speculation and needs more evidence in order to be considered a stable possibility.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern.

Flora Mae: A prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office. She was Shadow's coworker and was discovered to have been murdered only after Shadow heard the sound of gunshots at the dock and quickly went to investigate it.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Mephiles: An old hedgehog of sixty-five with over thirty years worth of experience in the court of law as a prosecutor. His ruthlessness in the courtroom are well-known by all who work within the courtroom. There are rumors that he forges evidence and fixes witnesses' testimonies so cases will go his way because of his impossibly no-lose record, but all are unfounded.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who keeps watch over the lighthouse. He prefers to be called Max. He used to be a very successful entrepreneur in the seafood business along with his sister Lois before it was bought out from them by his partner and transformed into a shipping goods business.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 6<strong>

"Come on; there's got to be something here that the police and detectives overlooked," Sonic growled out as he continued to search the docks for any kind of evidence that would help in his case to acquit Shadow. "Of course, I mean no offense to you, Silver. It's just that I know Mephiles had some kind of ulterior motive to hide the fact about the murder captured in the lighthouse background of Amy's picture for a reason, so there has to be something here that proves the 'murder' that happened here was just for show!"

"Sonic, you're going to get yourself kicked out of the scene by the police if you keep tramping around like that," Tails warned his older brother as he was engaged in a calmer version of search and carefully examining even the smallest of things. "I want to clear Shadow's name just as much as you do, but going about like this in a crazed frenzy isn't going to help him. The last thing you need now is a lack of evidence in court tomorrow because you couldn't compose yourself at the crime scene."

"We've already been checking this place from top to bottom for the past few minutes," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he continued on with his wild search. "I'd have expected to find something by now. It's already five in the afternoon; we only have a couple more hours' worth of searching before we have to go back to the office and get set up for tomorrow's court day. I need to find something now!"

"But running around is a good way for you to miss whatever it is you're looking for," Silver suggested as he was nearby leaning against what was most likely his own car with his arms crossed. "I'm sure that the police did more than just a good job looking for evidence once they heard that Mephiles was going to be the prosecutor. He's a real stickler for everything being done just right, and he'll unleash his wrath on those who don't perform to his standards. Oh, and I take no offense from your earlier comment, Sonic."

"Geez, does he think he's the high prosecutor for the country or something?" the attorney asked as he took the detective's advice and actually slowed down a bit. The police that were nearby still looked at him with suspicious eyes, but that could not have been helped thanks to his previously rushed behavior. "I didn't think that prosecutors had that kind of authoritative power over the police."

"Prosecutors do have certain powers over police and precinct detectives like me, but Mephiles's position is just below that of the high prosecutor," the detective explained with a shake of his head as if he did not agree with the process. "Because of that, he does have more control than other prosecutors over the precinct whenever he's associated with a case. However, only the high prosecutor can have control including during times when they're not overseeing a case. That's the only difference between the two."

"Well, I guess we're pretty lucky here since we have nothing to do with the police," the two tailed fox responded as he walked over to the side of the dock and looked down at the calm waters below. "And I'm an on-scene detective hired directly by Dr. Robotnik, so the prosecutor can't do anything to stop me from investigating. He can't exercise his authoritative power over me in this case."

"To be perfectly honest, I shouldn't even be allowing the two of you here on the scene," Silver admitted with a slight frown as the other two turned towards him with questioning eyes. "Mephiles specifically said that he only wanted a certain amount of police officers and the detective in charge of the investigation, which happens to be me, here gathering any kind of evidence. He wants information from this place that only he would be privy to. So consider yourselves lucky that I happen to be in charge of the scene and allow you here. If it were any other detective, you'd have had no chance of examining this area."

"But then won't you get into some kind of trouble if you're caught?" Sonic asked with concern before he bent down and picked up a pebble under the apparent misguidance that it was something important and throwing it over his shoulder. "I haven't the chance to get to know Mr. Wonderful's behavior, but I doubt it's good when someone disobeys orders he has authority to be giving out. I don't want you to be sticking your neck out on our accord. Not that I don't appreciate it or anything like that."

"Well, I'm honestly not particularly fond of the old man myself," the senior detective responded with a sigh and small shrug of his shoulders. "And besides, it's not like he can get me fired or anything like that. In order to get rid of anybody who dared to oppose him, the prosecutor would do anything in his right and power to dig up some juicy work-related secret on the worker and present it to their boss. And judging from both the amount of secrets and their severity, they would either be suspended or fired."

"Ugh, he'd ruin other people's lives just so he could have his chance at keeping his perfect track record in court?" Tails rhetorically asked in disgust as he shook his head at the thought of detectives and officers getting in trouble for no good reason. "People make mistakes every day and occasionally disobey their superiors. That's no reason as an indirect superior to get them in trouble with their direct boss!"

"That's exactly the kind of man you'll be fighting against for the next couple of days. To him, he's the revered king on a chess board with the courtroom playing the role of queen enforcer and the evidence as his army entourage. Everybody else is just a lowly pawn left alone in the front lines for him to both use and dispose of whenever he pleases. Thankfully for me, I happen to have an impeccably clean track record, so I have no fear of retribution from either him or my boss," he added with a hint of smugness barely detectable in his tone. "I can afford to not follow his orders word for word every now and then. I guess you could consider me a super pawn in that I have my own freedom to do what I want and can't be disposed of that easily by the likes of him."

"I really hope you're not just saying all that so we'd feel better about putting you in potential trouble," the cobalt hedgehog replied as he continued on with his investigation by looking over the railing. "I don't want to end up being responsible for what might actually turn out to be a crazy… Wait a minute," he suddenly said as he leaned further over the railing as if trying to get a better look at something. "Tails, do you think you could you come and take a look at something with me?"

"Sure, did you find something interesting?" the fox asked as he came over and followed his brother's lead. He then said after looking towards where the other was pointing at, "Are you talking about that Red Paper kind of flapping against the side of the dock?"

"Yeah, that might be something important," the attorney stated before standing straight up and looking back towards Silver. "Hey Silver, do you think you can get something for us? I think we found something that might be evidence."

"Are you serious, Sonic?" the senior detective asked with eyebrows raise in mild surprise as he stopped leaning against his car and approached the dock railing. "I thought that the police already found and collected everything that was worth looking over considering who that it was Mephiles watching over things. Where'd you find this supposed evidence?"

"It's just flapping around against the concrete side over the railing," the younger one explained just as the other approached the area. "I doubt that it's just a piece of trash that got caught on the concrete. The wind isn't even blowing in our faces. Seems kind of suspicious how it seems to just stay there, doesn't it?"

"You do know that the chances of something like that being evidence are pretty low, you know? Then again, I suppose it doesn't hurt to give it a quick look. That and I'm sure you're both not going to let me hear the end of it if I refuse to help you with this."

Without saying anything, Silver walked over towards a nearby officer and instructed him to get the red thing that was flapping against the side of the dock. For a few seconds, the officer made his way over to a squad car and began digging around in the trunk before pulling out what looked to have been a long grab-arm. When he came back, the officer looked over the railing before putting the grab-arm down and carefully peeling the red object off the wall.

"Is this what you wanted, sir?" the officer asked as he pulled the object towards him and took it into his gloved hands and handing it to Silver whose hands were still gloved back when he had investigated the lighthouse.

"That's perfect, officer," the senior detective stated with a nod of his head as he began to examine the Red Paper. "Thank you for your help. You can go back performing what it was you were already working on."

"What the heck is that?" Sonic asked as he looked over Silver's shoulder and had a hard time figuring out what the strange object was. All he could figure by looking at it was that it was as thin as a piece of paper with some kind of black smudge on it and stuck on a small piece of tape. "It just looks like some kind of dirty scrap of paper that got caught on the port wall because of the tape."

"I highly doubt that's the case, Sonic," Tails responded as he carefully examined the object. "Even if the wind did carry this thing all the way here, it's impossible for the tape to have gotten caught on anything. It seems more likely that it was placed there by somebody for some strange reason."

"Whatever the case, I'll go ahead and get this thing examined back at the Precinct when I get back later," Silver announced as he carefully pocketed it into his coat pocket. "I agree with Tails that it's too unnatural that we would find it where it was. I really can't guarantee it's related to this case, so don't go getting your hopes up."

Before anybody could say anything else, they were distracted by some kind of scene suddenly taking place. When they turned their heads towards the source, they saw a couple of officers trying to calmly talk to a man who was dressed in clothing that looked typical of what a child would wear. The colors were rather loud and somewhat distracting, and the way he carried himself was almost reminiscent to that of a child.

"What is going on here?" the senior detective asked as he walked over to the disturbance; Sonic and Tails followed closely behind. "Can you one of you officers please tell me why this man is causing a scene?"

"We're sorry sir, but he's quite adamant on wanting to walk through the scene," one of the officers trying to diffuse the situation responded as the strange man seemed to be calming down somewhat. "We explained to him why he couldn't pass through, but he's just refusing to listen. Perhaps you might have more luck with him than us."

"If you think it'll work, then I suppose it's worth a try," he stated with a sigh before continuing to walk towards the man while dismissing the two officers with a wave of his hand. He then said to the strange man once he was within earshot, "Hello there, sir! Is there something that I can do for you?"

"I want to go home!" the man exclaimed in a rather childish tone as he crossed his arms and let a childish pout approach his facial features. "My home is just through here, but these strangers are keeping me from walking through."

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but this area is right now subject to a criminal investigation. We can't have members of the general public just walking through. I hope you can understand."

"But I just want to go home," the man repeated with his same childishly defiant pout as if he did not hear a single word the detective said. "I live just right there in that lighthouse. Why can't any of you people understand that? Do I have to call the police and say that you're all blocking the road?"

"You live in the lighthouse?" Tails suddenly asked with an intrigued look on his face after hearing that fact. "That's an interesting thing to know. If you don't mind me asking, could you tell us what your name is?"

"And who are you? I'm not supposed to be giving my name to strangers. My big sister told me that people might use it for bad things."

"Uh, we work for the police buddy," Sonic responded in a matter-of-fact tone while looking at the man as if he were insane. "We make it our job to know who it is that's trying to go through a crime scene."

"… … …My name is Max Pryce," the man answered after being silent for more than just a few seconds. "I've lived in that lighthouse for the whole of my life."

"_This_ is Max Pryce?_!_" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed. "He doesn't sound like the kind of guy who once owned a successful business. He sounds more like some kind of child going on a temper tantrum!"

"Maybe he's just suffering from some kind of neurological disorder," the two tailed fox suggested with a shrug of his shoulders before suddenly getting an idea. "Mr. Pryce, did you say you lived in that lighthouse ever since you were born?"

"Don't call me mister," Max responded with that same childish pout adorning his face again. "I don't like it when people treat me like an adult. And yes, I've lived there for my whole life."

"Hmm, do you mind if I asked you a couple of questions regarding the lighthouse?" the fox asked, being careful with his words so as to not sound insulting to the man who seemed trapped in the mindset of a grade school child. "My name's Tails, and I work for the police. There are some questions that we have about your house."

"…I guess it is okay to tell you about my house. I mean, you haven't said or did anything that makes it seem like you're trying to keep me from going home. Do you promise that I get to go home after talking with you?"

"I promise to try my best in getting you home."

"Okay then!" the man suddenly exclaimed as his attitude quickly changed from pouting little boy to an overexcited child. He then asked with a wide smile quickly approaching his face, "What do you want to know about my house?"

"Tails, are you sure you should be asking this guy questions?" the attorney asked in a low tone with skepticism in his words. "He seems to be a bit disturbed if you ask me."

"That doesn't mean he can't still give us some information we may need," Tails responded back as he continued to smile at Max. "It actually might prove to be useful to us to hear what he has to say."

"I trust you know what you're doing here then," Silver said with a small frown as he stepped back a bit. "I'll stand by and make sure he doesn't do anything crazy, but don't say anything that'll push him that far. It's clear that he's not necessarily mentally sound, so be careful with your questions."

"I'll be careful," the two tailed fox assured the other before turning his full attention back to Max. "Alright Max; do you think you could tell me a bit about what was happening inside your lighthouse two days ago in the morning? It's important that we know what was going on that day since it'll help us out with our mystery."

"Oh, a mystery!" Max exclaimed happily with a big smile coming to his lips upon hearing that he would be helping out with the investigation. "I'll be more than happy to tell you anything if it means I get to solve a mystery!"

_**Argument: Inside the Lighthouse**_

I was at home sleeping all night long. When I woke up, I fixed myself some breakfast and decided to read the newspaper. While I was eating, I heard the phone ring. I answered it, but I didn't really understand what the other person was talking about. After that, I just spent the whole day by myself.

_**End Argument**_

"…What the heck kind of an explanation is that?" Sonic asked with a look that could be construed as disgust on his face. "That sounds a lot like something a seven-year-old school kid would cook up! How is that supposed to help us get any information on what happened in the lighthouse that morning?"

"Sonic, don't forget that this man might be suffering from a neurological disorder," Silver reminded the cobalt hedgehog before he got even more heated up at the situation. "I suggest that you just leave everything with Tails seeing as he has more patience than you with things like this."

"Just because he's not talking like an adult doesn't mean he's not telling the truth," Tails added as he kept eye contact with Max and smiled at him which was returned eagerly. "We're just going to have to approach this more carefully. Anyway, let me go ahead and ask him some questions about what he said."

"Oh, I just hope you really can get something out of this crazy guy," the attorney responded with a sigh before shaking his head and leaning against the port railing as if what they were doing was not worth the time. "But besides that, just what are you trying to get out of from these questions?"

"I just figured it'd be important to hear what he has to say being that he lives in the lighthouse," the fox said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It might actually provide us with something that we can use to counter Mephiles's claims that the place isn't where Ms. Mae was really murdered."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"Anyway, you say that you were home for the entire night the day before the murder," Tails quickly recapped as he diverted his full attention back at Max. "Did you wake up at any time for any reason?"

"I can't say that I did," Max quickly answered without any hesitation before giving out an innocent smile. "My whole family always said that I could sleep through a war if it ever came to our doorstep."

"So you didn't wake up even to use the bathroom?" the two tailed fox asked once more for the sake of clarification.

"I always make it a habit to use the bathroom before going to sleep, so I didn't even wake up for that," the man answered with a serious face.

"I suppose that would make sense. If you don't mind me asking then; what time do you usually wake up to have your breakfast?"

"Oh, it differs every morning. Sometimes, I wake up as early as six in the morning where I would wake up at almost twelve in the afternoon on other days."

"Well, could you just tell me what time you woke up a couple of days ago?" Tails asked, his patience starting to slowly wear thin because of all this. Even Sonic and Silver were rolling their eyes at how pointless this was quickly becoming. "That's all I'm really interested in this time around."

"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" Max exclaimed, his words now sounding akin to that of a smart aleck kid. "That would've made it sound less confusing for me. Not that it mattered either way since I don't remember when I ate breakfast two days ago."

"So much for that idea," the fox murmured under his breath while trying to keep his welcoming smile on his lips. Trying to get any worthwhile information from this man about the morning of the murder was quickly proving to be a tough challenge with each passing second. "How about the phone call? I know you said that you didn't really understand what the person was saying, but was there anything about the call that stuck out to you?"

"From what I heard, it was obviously a man talking," the man responded as he gave off a thoughtful look. "I'm guessing that he sounded kind of old. I mean, his voice definitely didn't sound like any of you three's."

"And what about anything that this guy might've said to you?" Sonic suggested as he hoped that they were finally getting somewhere. "Did anything he say strike you as either strange or unusual?"

"I already said that I didn't understand what the man said, you meanie!" Max insulted as he let out a huff of his breath. Sonic's cheeks immediately grew a dark shade of red in anger. "If I don't understand anything, then why should I have to pay any attention to it? It's not as though I'd get a better understanding of what he was saying if I kept listening. And besides, my sister would kill me if I raked up another big phone bill."

"How many sisters do you have?" Silver quickly asked before the cobalt hedgehog had a chance to say anything against having been insulted. "If you do, could you tell us if any of them live with you?"

"Just one, but she's the greatest older sister a guy could ever ask for! Seriously, she always took care of me whenever I was sick and mom and dad were too busy at work. Unfortunately, now she's busy with her own work now that she's gotten older. I haven't seen her for almost two years ever since she went abroad for work."

"And what exactly is your sister's name?" the senior detective asked despite already knowing what it was.

"Her name is Lois. She has the same last name as me, so I guess I don't have to say that part. That and she hasn't had a chance to marry yet, so no chance of her having a different last name. She did have a boyfriend once, but they broke up pretty quickly."

"W-wait a minute; isn't Lois already…!" the defense attorney was about to say before being suddenly jabbed in the ribs by Silver's elbow. This immediately caused him to shut up and groan in slight pain from the action.

"So you don't know where you sister is at now?" Tails asked with an eyebrow raised in question while inwardly feeling some pity for the man. "That's a shame; I would've liked to talk to her about a couple of things."

"Well, then I suppose I'm the next best thing!" Max stated excitedly as he childishly pointed his left thumb at himself. "Is there anything else you want to know about either me or my house? I'm all ears to anything you want to ask."

"…Just one more thing," the fox responded after giving it some thought. "Are you sure that you were by yourself in your house for the entire morning two days ago?"

"I'm as sure as sure can be," the man replied with a firm nod of his head, his black hair weaving around a bit from the action. "I've lived alone for a long while ever since my parents just suddenly disappeared, and my sister told me to never open the door for anybody unless it was family or the police.

"Now that I think about it, Lois hasn't called me for a while now," he continued on in a sort of random fashion. "Maybe I should go home now and see if she left me any messages. Can you please take me home now? I need to make sure she didn't leave me some kind of important message on my phone."

"Your sister sometimes leaves you messages when she's gone?" Silver asked as he tried to stall for a couple of minutes. He knew full well that Max would not be able to go back to the lighthouse for a good while, so he did not want to upset him just now in case they might hear something important.

"Only when she's gone on extended trips. Other than that, she only calls me for quick status reports like every night. I know she means well and is just worried about me, but I just wish she would stop bugging me for these status reports. I mean, it isn't as though I'm going to burn down our house, you know? What's the worst that could happen with her gone?"

_**End Rebuttal**_

"Tails, I really think this is going nowhere," Silver stated as he shook his head at the waste of time they had just witnessed. "You're not really getting anything useful from him, and I don't think that's about to change anytime soon."

"Either that or he's going to come up with some way to insult one of us again," Sonic responded bitterly, clearly still peeved at having been insulted earlier. "I'm so not going to forget about this anytime soon."

"…I guess you're right," Tails admitted after a short pause. "Thank you for telling me about what you did in your house two days ago, Max. It was very helpful."

"Does this mean I can go home now?" Max asked as his eyes seemed to shine with a sort of innocent childish hope.

"I did promise you that I would try my best to make that happen, and the best person I know who can get you home would be Detective Silver right here," the two tailed fox responded as he pointed towards the silver furred fox. "If you follow him, I'm sure that he'll do everything that he can to get you home. And if he still can't, then I know he can at least let you stay somewhere instead of camping out in the cold."

"…Alright," the man conceded with a slightly disappointed tone in his words before quickly replacing it with a peppy attitude. "Thank you for trying to help me, Tails. I really hope that what I told you ends up helping you solve your mystery. Alright, Detective Silver; can you take me to wherever it is I can ask to go home now?"

"Of course, just go ahead and follow me," the detective said as he walked towards his car, clearly unfazed at having the burden of helping the mentally unstable man tagging along closely behind him find shelter.

"Geez, who would've thought that Maxwell Pryce was actually a man with a brain of a child," the cobalt hedgehog responded once said man and detective were out of earshot. "How can he possibly live on his own like that? It's a wonder how he actually didn't manage to burn down the lighthouse by now."

"That's what I find surprising, as well," the two tailed fox unconsciously stated as he crossed his arms and looked deep in thought. "Even when I was seven, I didn't have much of a concept of what things around the house were extremely dangerous. But that's beside the point," he quickly added before shaking his head and looking back towards the lighthouse. "If what Max said is true about him being alone all morning on the day of the murder, then there's no way that a murder took place on top of that lighthouse."

"But we have the Photograph from Amy Rose that proves otherwise!" the attorney refuted as he raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Unless you're saying that Amy was in cahoots with the murderer, I'd have to say that it's pretty hard to set up a pretty incriminating picture of Shadow while also capturing a murder scene on the top of that lighthouse so that they appear at the same time and correct fashion."

"That's not what I'm saying at all," the young one said with a tired sigh. "All I'm getting at is that we've either been following the wrong lead the entire time or that what Mr. Pryce just told us was a complete lie. At this point, I don't know what to believe right now."

"Then how about try believing in the evidence we found at the lighthouse? I mean, I really doubt that some Blood on the lighthouse railing and a Bullet Casing miraculously found their way there. And if those two things weren't enough, then how about that Letter that Silver found in the basement that seems to indicate Mr. Pryce involved with something illegal…? Wait a minute; how can he be involved in something illegal if he has at the least the mindset of a seven-year-old?"

"Oh yeah, I'd completely forgotten all about that Letter," Tails admitted as he suddenly remembered Silver showing it to them before saying he would bring it back to the Precinct for further investigation. "If Max's mindset is truly akin to that of a seven year old, then he doesn't have any reason to be receiving letters of a threatening nature like that. There's something strange about this man, but we've got nothing to really prove otherwise. At least we got his testimony in case we ever need to use it in court?"

"And just how is Max's Testimony going to be any use to us? He's either telling the truth to the best that he can or either lying to us by playing the mentally challenged card on us. Either way, what he said is useless unless we can ascertain whether or not he's a trustworthy person for information."

"Regardless, you'll never know if it might end up saving your butt," the two tailed fox countered his older brother. "And besides, we're right now hard pressed for any kind of evidence we can get concerning this lighthouse. Don't forget that this was the only reason why we managed to get a suspension from the Judge, so don't go discounting every single thing surrounding that place just because it sounds fishy."

"I'm just as desperate as the next defense attorney who might take this case if I get hospitalized for an ulcer because of this, but even I'm not so desperate to go about scavenging for things that sound a lot like trash," Sonic explained with a shake of his head before letting out an exhausted sigh.

"Then how about we call it a day before you really do get an ulcer here and now? It's already starting to get late, and I really doubt that we're going to find anything more here apart from what we've already discovered. That and you need to start getting ready for tomorrow's court battle with Mephiles tomorrow."

"Oh, why'd you have to go and remind me about that old stupid jerk?" the cobalt hedgehog whined as he was taken by the arm by his little brother and walked away from the crime scene. "I can only imagine just what kind of torture he's going to be subjecting me to tomorrow. He's probably going to object to every single thing I say like he did earlier this afternoon and force me into another desperate corner like the one I'm in right now. Oh, why couldn't Shadow have gotten himself in trouble when there was another prosecutor other than him overlooking the case for the state of Mobius?"

And even after they had long since left the vicinity of the crime scene at Mobius Docks and boarded a cab back to Dr. Robotnik's Law Offices, the defense attorney continued to whine about the trouble the case has given him. All Tails could do was lend a sympathetic ear and suffer through the onslaught as best he could. Even the poor cab driver was so annoyed after hearing the first five minutes that he actually turned up the radio in an attempt to drown out the other. If this was not any indication as to how crazy and desperate tomorrow's court proceedings was going to play out for them, then the two tailed fox could only guess how things really will turn out.

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Red Paper: Found stuck on a piece of tape that was stuck on the side of the dock where the murder was discovered. For some reason, there is some strange black mark on it.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

**Lost Evidence:**

Red Paper: Found stuck on a piece of tape that was stuck on the side of the dock where the murder was discovered. Silver has taken it with him so he can have forensics look it over.

**Updated Profiles:**

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who prefers to go by Max and lives in the lighthouse now under suspicion as being the real crime scene. Apparently, he seems to suffer from some kind of neurological disorder which causes him to have the mindset of a seven-year-old. He seems to believe that his older sister, Lois, is still alive.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.


	21. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 7

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter that I managed to squeeze out in these past two or so days. I only say to not get used to this since I'm officially starting my summer classes within the next few minutes. That will explain to you why my author's note this time around is very short and rushed.**  
><strong>

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful in that I take them into consideration depending whether or there are any helpful hints or such on them. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: A small spot of blood found on the railing of the lighthouse at the Mobius Docks. Tests are required in order to determine just who it belongs to, although it is speculated to have belonged to the victim, Prosecutor Flora Mae.

Fake Murder Weapon: A proposal brought about by Tails that the weapon the police took from the scene at the docks was not the real murder weapon. It's believed that there might have been a change sometime between the moment it was filed and before the case officially made it into court. It's currently just speculation and needs more evidence in order to be considered a stable possibility.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern.

Flora Mae: A prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office. She was Shadow's coworker and was discovered to have been murdered only after Shadow heard the sound of gunshots at the dock and quickly went to investigate it.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who prefers to go by Max and lives in the lighthouse now under suspicion as being the real crime scene. Apparently, he seems to suffer from some kind of neurological disorder which causes him to have the mindset of a seven-year-old. He seems to believe that his older sister, Lois, is still alive.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 7<strong>

"I'm getting this weird feeling that today's going to be just as crazy as yesterday if not even more," Sonic groaned out as he sat on one of the court lobby's cushioned benches and let out a yawn. He was somewhat tired after spending a restless night trying to no avail to get some much needed sleep out of nervousness due to how much was at stake today. All he could muster was to just close his eyes while still lying awake for what seemed to him to be the entire night. "I'll bet you anything that monster of a prosecutor managed to come up with something new to counter everything we've been investigating yesterday."

"If I know him well enough, he's most likely going to have a witness testifying for him right off the bat," Shadow responded as he was seated a few feet away from the cobalt hedgehog and carefully kept watch over by the court bailiff. "That's honestly just the way he likes to do things when he's forced to spend a second day on the case. He understands that evidence by itself doesn't necessarily solidify the case for him, so he always tries to find whatever witnesses he can that actually pertains to the case. I wouldn't put it past him in saying that he managed to pull that off this time, as well. I must admit that he's the toughest and most calculating prosecutor I've ever known. In fact, he probably had another witness lined up at yesterday's court hearing as backup in case Amy's story didn't do the trick for him."

"But who can possibly be a witness in terms of the incident at the lighthouse?" Tails asked as he tried to rack his brain for any plausible possibility. "I'm almost certain that the Judge is going to talk about that today. If Mephiles did have a second witness lined up for yesterday's trial, then I doubt we'll see them today considering what the Judge might be considered talking about today. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if it just ends up being the same thing as Amy's testimony. She pretty much testified about everything she saw, although it was pretty much useless being that what she saw was nothing more than an act meant to frame you. As far as we as the defense are concerned, she's the only witness who was anywhere near the scene of the crime at that moment.

"And until yesterday, that lighthouse wasn't even within the scope of anybody's investigation," the young fox continued on as he remembered how they even got to the topic of the lighthouse in the first place. "We all probably would've ignored it if it weren't for the Photograph that Amy managed to take at that exact moment. How could he possibly find somebody in relations to that place in such a short amount of time? We barely had time to investigate the place ourselves!"

"As I said, don't put it past the old man and his ability to find a witness well-suited for what's assumed to be covered today," the even furred hedgehog repeated calmly with a shrug of his shoulders. "However, I can't say I'd be too surprised if he didn't even need to summon one this time around. If I remember correctly from how yesterday's court proceedings ended, you both managed to squeeze out another day of investigating simply because you confused the Judge with the possibility of another location being the real murder scene. Speaking of which, how did your investigation of the lighthouse come along?" he asked with a quick change of the subject. "Did you manage to dig up any new details or evidence there?"

"We found a few things that look promising, but most of them are right now at the Precinct getting forensics work done," the cobalt hedgehog explained as he fidgeted with the hem of his white gloves. "The only things we have on us are either some paperwork that honestly pose no help to us right now or just speculations Tails came up with after viewing the lighthouse. I was actually kind of hoping that Knuckles would be able to get here before today's trial started so I could get a look at what they say. I'm guessing that's kind of impossible now, though. Court's about to start in a couple of minutes."

"Then we'll just have to hold out until he can get here with those pieces of evidence," the two tailed fox reassured his older brother just as the bailiff motioned for them all to go into the courtroom. "Well, it's almost time to get this show started. Let's just hope that we can at least get a word in edgewise this time around or we'll be forced to go desperately poking around for information like yesterday."

"Good luck with that wish," the prosecutor sarcastically said with a half-smile before being escorted into the courtroom. Sonic and Tails soon followed suit and quickly took their place on their side the large room. The audience who were to view today's proceedings had already taken their seats in the gallery along the walls of the room. Mephiles was also already in the room and standing on his side, and he looked just as stoic as he did yesterday with his face revealing no emotion.

In the next couple of seconds, the Judge had entered the room and quickly took his seat on his desk in the front of the room just as the court bailiff reached his assigned position beside him. As usual, he had on a level face that showed no indication as to what his current thoughts on the case were.

"Court is now in session for the trial of Prosecutor Shadow!" the old man announced as he officially started the proceedings with a bang of his gavel. Whatever chatter that was taking place from the gallery quickly came to an abrupt stop as everybody listened in on what was now happening. "Today shall be the second day of this case. I assume that both the defense and prosecution are ready for the course of today's proceedings?"

"I suggest that you concentrate the question on the defense rather than at me today," Mephiles simply responded with a huff of his breath as he crossed his arms in an almost defiant fashion. "Do you honestly think that a man of my caliber would be in here now if I weren't prepared to represent the state?"

"Well, it certainly sounds like the prosecution is ready today. And is the defense ready to begin the proceedings?"

"Uh, we're…as ready as we could be," Sonic hesitantly replied as he nervously rubbed at the back of his neck. "There are some things that have yet to be confirmed on my end of things, but I feel they should be taken care of by the day's end. At least, I hope they can be taken care of before this is over," he added in an undertone so only his little brother who happened to nod his head lightly in agreement could hear.

"I can't really say I'm comfortable with that kind of response, but I'm afraid it can't be helped now," the Judge responded with a slightly displeased look on his face. He then continued on with a barely noticeable shrug of his shoulders, "Allow me to start off with a recap on what we went over yesterday.

"After quite a bit of words from both sides of the courtroom, the court appears to have been led down the wrong path due to a red herring," he clarified before clearing his throat. "By the defense's claim that was proven through a Photograph procured by yesterday's witness, a Ms. Amy Rose, the lighthouse in the background has been under a cloud of suspicion because of an apparent murder seen taking place on top of the building. And while it was clear the defense was grasping, the court could not deny the possibility that what was in the Photograph might have been the actual killing we're currently overseeing. While I was quite sure that the defendant, Prosecutor Shadow, was guilty of murdering his coworker, Prosecutor Flora Mae, this revelation proved too coincidental for me to discount. As such, I had announced a recess for both sides to verify whether or not this was the case. Now, will the prosecution please start off with their opening statements?"

"Yesterday, we ended the proceedings with the defense leaving Your Honor confused about some of the case's details," the old prosecutor started off as he seemingly stared daggers at Sonic and Tails for having created said confusion. "They had prematurely suggested that the lighthouse on the Mobius Dock near the crime scene was the actual scene of Prosecutor Flora Mae's murder. Their basis for this ridiculous claim was but a simple Photograph procured by yesterday's witness, Ms. Amy Rose. Today, I'll be disproving their claim that the lighthouse was the actual scene of the murder with nothing more than just a single witness as my source of evidence and thus proving that only the defendant had both the time and means to have taken part in such a heinous crime!"

"Just one witness?" the old man asked with a grey eyebrow raised in question. "Are you sure you'll be able to prove your case with just the testimony of one person today? Without any sort of material evidence on hand, the witness must be quite decisive in his or her information in order for you to feel that confident."

"Confidence has nothing to do with my plans for today's proceedings. It's merely the truthfulness and simplicity of my witness's words that I find to be more than helpful in proving my case that Prosecutor Shadow is and always has been the true culprit in this heinous crime. I challenge the defense to find any kind of flaw in the coming testimony."

"It's not even five minutes and he's already got his mojo going at full speed," the cobalt hedgehog grumbled out as he inwardly wondered what they were up against today. "Why does this feel like a sign that something bad is going to happen?"

"Bailiff, please bring the witness to the stand!" the Judge announced immediately with a pound of his gavel. In the next second, the court bailiff had exited the courtroom and quickly reentered with a man following closely behind.

"W-wait a minute!" Tails quietly exclaimed upon seeing who the witness really was. Even Sonic was shocked to see who the prosecutor had lined up as a witness today. "Max is going to be Mephiles's witness today?_!_ He's not serious in saying that _his _testimony is going to help him prove his case, is he?"

"The prosecution would like to introduce to the court Mr. Maxwell Pryce," Mephiles announced to the court in a tone that reflected nothing but confidence. "I was planning on having him come up as a witness during yesterday's proceedings, but the circumstance didn't feel right what with the defense actually managing to send mass confusion throughout this courtroom. Because of that, I felt it right to just introduce him today."

"And what is it exactly that Mr. Pryce bore witness to?" the judge asked as the bailiff helped Max get situated at the witness stand. "I find it hard for him to be a reliable witness being that I've only heard of Ms. Rose being near at the time of the incident."

"Originally, he was only meant to supplement Ms. Rose's testimony were the defense to discredit her words," the old prosecutor explained while still keeping his confident tone in his words. "However, because of a change in circumstances brought about by the defense yesterday, I would like for him to testify about a completely different matter. To be more specific, I would like for him to testify as to why the lighthouse couldn't possibly be the real scene of the crime as they so claimed. And I promise you that this is more than suitable to answer this question since he lives in that very building.

"A word of caution, though. Max here is suffering from a neurological condition. Because of that, he has the mentality of at least a seven-year-old child. Do not be surprised should you hear him speak in a style fitting of a young boy. Also, call him by his first name unless you want him to become extremely uncooperative."

"Well, thank you for both the explanation and warning Prosecutor," the Judge quickly thanked before turning his attention to Sonic. "I trust that the defense has no objections to the summoning of the witness?"

"N-no objections, Your Honor," Sonic stuttered out as he tried to quickly regain his composure. "The defense is curious to hear the witness's explanation as to why the lighthouse can't be the real scene of the crime."

"Then let's go ahead and begin the day by questioning the witness. So witness, is your name Mr. Maxwell Pryce?"

"I don't like it when people call me mister or say my full name," Max immediately responded as he crossed his arms and pouted at the Judge. "It makes me feel like I'm an adult. I'd rather just be called Max."

"Uh, very well then. Max, do you mind telling me what you saw at your home and why it doesn't have anything to do with our case?"

"Oh, is this another mystery I get to take part in?" he asked excitedly before giddily clapping his hands like an overexcited child. "And you're letting me help you out? Oh, I promise to try my best to tell you whatever you need to know!"

"This is definitely going to be an interesting day," the cobalt hedgehog sighed out as he prepared himself for another irritating session with the witness. If this was anything like how yesterday was, he could only guess how hard it was to get anything solid today. Even Tails could not keep back a sigh of frustration upon having to see a repeat of what he had done with Max just yesterday.

_**Was There a Murder at the Lighthouse?**_

I was at my lighthouse sleeping all night long. When I woke up, I went and made myself some breakfast. I pretty much spent the whole morning all by myself. Nobody talked to me or even visited me all day long!

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"My, that was quite a short testimony!" the Judge responded in slight surprise as he kept his eyes on Max to see whether or not he was done speaking. "It might even be one of the shortest I've ever heard in my entire career as a Judge. Even for a mentally seven-year-old man, I was expecting there to be a bit more to his explanation. However, I must admit that he did answer the main question albeit it was through short sentences."

"So long as the witness can perform that basic task when standing upon the stand, I'll be more than happy to have him testify," Mephiles responded with a sense of pride in his words. "While I do admit it was short, he still answered the question in full. If nobody was at the lighthouse save himself, then there's no possible way that a murder could've taken place there. Although I find little merit in doing so, I suppose that the defense would like to exercise their right to cross-examine this adolescent man."

"That's naturally the case, Prosecutor Mephiles," Sonic responded with a nod of his head before crossing his arms and trying to look as defiant as possible. "What good would it do my client if I were to just give up after listening to a witness's testimony? And besides, I have questions that I want to have answered by good old Max here. After all, he's probably the only one who can help me out with them."

"Oh, you're going to make me blush saying all that," Max replied as he actually started to look a bit shy standing there on the stand by himself. "I know I said I like mysteries and all, but I can only do so much to help you all. I only hope that what I said can help you out with whatever you need to figure out."

"How can it be any help to us when you're practically repeating the same thing you said yesterday?" Tails quietly groaned out as he put on a fake smile. "We're just going to get the same answers no matter what we do."

"Well, at least we're now in a courtroom setting," the cobalt hedgehog reassured his little brother with a soft pat on the shoulder. "With some ground rules set in here, we might be able to get just a little bit further than you could from just asking people questions out in the middle of the street. I only hope we can actually learn something useful this time around."

"I do hope that you're going to do more than just consult amongst yourselves within the next few minutes," the prosecutor spoke up in a rather sarcastic tone. "None of us are getting any younger here, you know? The court certainly doesn't have time to waste."

"I must ask you to either begin with your cross-examination or waive your right to it, Mr. Sonic," the Judge warned in a stern tone. "I won't be condoning any acts of stalling this time around. That will be your only warning today."

"Y-yes, Your Honor!" the defense attorney quickly acknowledged with a quick nod of his head. "I'll begin my cross-examination immediately!"

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Max, you say that you were sleeping all night long," Sonic repeated in order to help form the basis of his question. "How heavy of a sleeper would you say you are?"

"Oh, my parents always told me that I could sleep through a war even if it came to our front door," Max answered with a sort of sheepish smile appearing on his lips. "Even with my sister shouting right in my face, I can still sleep pretty well."

"If that's the case, then what's stopping us from saying that somebody didn't just sneak into the lighthouse while you were asleep?" the cobalt hedgehog questioned as he tried to look for any opening he could get.

"Objection!" Mephiles quickly exclaimed. "If that's the case, then are you saying that the victim, a fellow prosecutor, actually decided to break the law and break into Max's home? What exactly would she accomplish in doing so besides setting herself up for this supposed murder you say happened on the lighthouse balcony? Regardless whether or not the witness is a heavy sleeper, it's highly improbable that a woman of her stature would spontaneously decide to break into a random building."

"I fully agree with the prosecution on this," the Judge agreed before pounding his gavel and thus leaving no room for argument. "Objection sustained. Please move onto your next question, Mr. Sonic."

"Wow, you really put your foot in your mouth there, Sonic," Tails whispered with his face forming a noticeable wince. "You better think of something else quick!"

"Uh, what time would you say you ended up waking up?" Sonic asked, hoping that this question would actually lead him to a sensible answer.

"Uh, I would say about six-thirty," the man responded after giving it a bit of thought. "Yeah, it was around that time. I have a digital clock next to my bed, and I remember seeing the time when I woke up."

"That's quite an early time for one to be waking up," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he raised an eyebrow at this answer. "Might I ask why you decided to wake up so early?"

"I guess it's a force of habit. I might be a heavy sleeper, but I sure like waking up early in the morning!"

"Just what does this have to do with anything?" the prosecutor objected in a frustrated manner. "I'm truly getting tired with your stalling tactics! Do you even have any reason for asking such a meaningless question?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," the defense attorney countered as he pulled out Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report for all to see. "According to this report, the victim died between six-thirty and seven. Coincidentally, it's the same time that our witness here decided to wake up. Because of this, I find that my question more than merits a firm answer in order to establish a firm picture as to what's going on!"

"…The defense's question is allowed," the Judge announced after quietly deliberating it. "You may continue on, Mr. Sonic."

"Thank you, Your Honor. Max, did you notice anything strange or out of place when you woke up?"

"I can't say that I did," Max slowly said as he thought about it. "There was a bit of a draft coming from upstairs, but it was always like that. Everything was as normal as it could be for a typical summer morning. Although…,"

"Yes?" Tails gently prodded in order to get the witness to finish his statement. "What is it that you want to say?"

"Well, I guess there might've been just one small thing that was out of the ordinary that morning for me."

"Hmm, do you mind telling the court just what it was that seemed strange to you?" the old man asked as he also seemed intrigued by this information.

_**New Statement**_

When I first woke up, I felt like I wasn't alone.

_**End New Statement**_

"You felt like you weren't alone?" Sonic repeated with an eyebrow raised in question. "Could you explain a bit what you mean by that?"

"I-It almost felt like somebody was in the lighthouse with me," Max explained as he tried to remember that moment. "After I finished brushing my teeth, I went to take a look around. However, I couldn't find anybody anywhere. I guess it must've been my imagination. My parents always said I had an overactive imagination! Either that or whoever was in there was good at playing hide-and-seek!"

"Uh, I don't think that's something to be proud of considering the possibility of someone actually breaking into your home," Tails deadpanned as he rolled his eyes at the adolescent man's naivety at the situation.

"Regardless, the witness just testified that nobody was in his home at the time of the murder despite his earlier feelings," Mephiles concluded with an almost bored look on his face. "No matter how much you press, you're always going to get the same answer. I suggest we move onto something with more meaning and importance."

"Grr, if only we can somehow prove that Max's feelings were actually correct!" the cobalt hedgehog growled under his breath as he saw his one opening quickly close in front of his face. "There has to be some way to prove that someone really was sneaking around in his house when he woke up."

"We don't have any evidence that suggests someone other than Max was in there that morning," the two tailed fox explained with a small sigh escaping the back of his throat. "The Photograph Amy gave us only shows us a conclusion. If we can't somehow prove that what led up to that conclusion actually happened, there's no way the court's going to see that something really did happen at that lighthouse."

"…I guess there's nothing we can do about it now, Tails," the attorney conceded before regaining his professionalism. "So other than this strange feeling you had, you were alone for the entire morning?"

"That's right!" Max happily confirmed with quick nods of his head. It was almost as if he were trying to sprain his neck with the fast actions. "I was in the kitchen eating cereal and reading the comics section of the newspaper! I was laughing so hard at some of the stuff that milk actually managed to come out of my nose!"

"Uh, we didn't really need to know that, thank you," Tails responded with a look of clear disgust. "But would you happen to know about what time it was when you were done eating and reading the newspaper?"

"Oh, that's an easy question," the adolescent man responded with just a small shrug of his shoulders. "I remember the clock in my living room going off right after I finished eating. That should mean it was seven then."

"So you were done with all your usual morning stuff by seven," Sonic recapped as he desperately tried to look for anything in the testimony that could help him. "So from the time you woke up until you finished eating, nobody was inside or even came to the lighthouse. Is that what you're telling us?"

"That's right; nobody wanted to visit me that day. It's not like I get much visitors anyway, but I always like to be surprised. Not even the phone rang for me once, but I don't usually like answering it."

"I honestly don't see your reasoning for engaging this cross-examination anymore," Mephiles responded as he pinched the bridge of his nose as if he were getting a headache. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're trying to stall for time after the Judge had so generously granted you warning not to do so. I suggest that you stop this charade now while you're still ahead."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"If that's what you want, then I'll go ahead and end it," Sonic responded without putting up much effort. "I must admit that I was starting to go nowhere there."

"Finally, that's the most sensible thing you've said during this entire court case!" Mephiles said with an almost over-exaggerated sigh. "I was really starting to wonder whether that head of yours was only for show. It's nice to know that you know when to finally concede your inevitable defeat."

"Oh, I never said anything about being defeated just yet," the cobalt hedgehog countered with a smug look on his face. "In fact, it's thanks to Max's testimony that I managed to dig up a little contradiction on my end."

"And just what is this contradiction, Mr. Sonic?" the Judge asked with eyebrows raised in intrigue with the prosecution also performing the same motion. "I'm afraid that I can't find anything of contradictory nature in his testimony."

"Max, are you sure when you said that nobody even phoned you that morning?" the cobalt hedgehog asked before making his contradiction known.

"I'm as sure as sure can be," Max responded with a questioning look in his eyes. "Why are you asking about that?"

"I only ask because what you said sounds completely impossible! Don't you remember yesterday when you ran into me and Tails on the docks while we were investigating the crime scene?"

"And how did you manage to get a chance to investigate the docks?" the prosecutor asked with a look that showed he did not believe them. "I was under the impression that nobody other than officers and detectives were allowed on scene."

"Well, we just so happened to get permission from a Precinct detective," the defense attorney responded while being careful not to use Silver's name so as to keep him from Mephiles's wrath later. "And while we were there, Max was creating a small scene because he wanted to go back home to his lighthouse. That was when my partner who happens to be Dr. Robotnik's hired on-scene detective questioned him. Believe it or not, the witness told us the same thing then as he did now."

"Then where's the trouble, Mr. Sonic?" the Judge asked with his intrigued look now changing to that of confusion.

"The trouble lies in the fact that Max just told us a little lie that I can easily prove with his own words."

"I-I lied?" the adolescent man asked with a look of confusion now on his face. "But I never lied here."

"Then perhaps you lied when you talked to us yesterday," Sonic stated as he pulled out a transcript of Max's Testimony that his little brother created. "Either way, you lied about you not having a phone call that morning. According to your statement yesterday, you told us that you in fact did have a call that you answered but failed to understand. Care to explain why you neglected to tell us about this today in court?"

"Well, I didn't feel that it was a very important thing to say," Max quickly explained without any hesitation. It was almost as if he was expecting to have been caught in a lie and was prepared to give a suitable explanation. "Like I told you yesterday back at the docks, I didn't understand a single thing the other man had been talking about. Once he was done talking, he hung up right before I did."

"In other words, it didn't matter whether or not he said in his testimony he did receive a phone call," Mephiles concluded with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "To be perfectly honest, any seven-year-old would omit anything they felt was unnecessary for us to hear. And being that Max has the mind of a seven-year-old, it's not too much of a stretch to say he did the exact same thing just now."

"I'm afraid I'll have to side with the prosecution on this one," the Judge quickly conceded without any hesitation. "Were this not a mentally stable man, I would immediately jump on this contradiction. However, with circumstances as they are, I find it hard to believe that this phone call really is of any importance. And besides, I fail to see how it answers the main question at hand here: Was there anybody in the lighthouse that morning besides our witness here?"

"And I believe that question has been suitably answered through the cross-examination the defense felt so adamant on performing," the prosecutor responded with a clear triumphant smile on his lips and his arms tightly crossed. "So if there are no more questions that need to be asked, I would like to dismiss my witness."

"I believe that the court has heard enough from Max," the old man stated with a nod of his head in agreement as he reached for his gavel.

"I object, Your Honor!" the cobalt hedgehog quickly exclaimed before the order was finalized. "I still have questions that I want to ask the witness, questions that are related to the case and are needed to be answered. You can't just call the witness away and leave things the way they are now!"

"Unfortunately, you don't have a leg to stand on with that claim of yours," he explained with a shake of his head. "Except for a meaningless contradiction, you found nothing in his testimony that proved your claim from yesterday had any merit. And I found nothing to be suspicious in nature in his explanation of what he said and did on the morning of the murder. As such, I'm no longer permitting the witness to be questioned any further. The witness is now excused from the courtroom!"

"I hope I was able to help you with what I said," the adolescent man responded with a smile before the bailiff escorted him out of the courtroom.

"B-But…!" the attorney could only manage to stutter as everything around him was quickly crumbling away. The Judge chose not to pay any attention while Mephiles simply gave off a triumphant smile accompanied with a rather smug look.

"Well, then, I believe that this court has heard enough regarding this case," the old man announced once the bailiff came back. "Through the testimony of Mr. Pryce, I find it more than plausible that the lighthouse was not the scene of our case's murder. Whether or not it was the scene of any murder remains to be seen, although I find it hard that the witness in his current state would lie about something so serious so easily. And since the defense has failed to provide any evidence saying otherwise, my decision is that whatever was seen in the background of Ms. Rose's Photograph is of no importance to us."

"But I…!" Sonic stuttered out before quickly quieting down as he realized he really did not have anything to say about this terrible turn of events.

"Cat got your tongue?" Mephiles smugly asked with a noise that sounded suspiciously like an evil chuckle. "I believe you finally realized that you could never win against me. I must admit that you put up quite a fight yesterday that I haven't seen in the longest of times, but it was unfortunately all for naught. You have nothing of worth that can discredit my witness. I'm sure you would've presented some kind of evidence were that the case. But alas, your time to defend your client is now over!"

"This…this can't be happening!" the cobalt hedgehog growled out as he put his elbows on top of the desk and buried his face in his hands. "Where the hell did we go wrong today? This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"…I guess it was just a pipe dream to get Shadow acquitted from someone like Mephiles as the prosecution," Tails sadly replied with an equally sad sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose. Even Shadow seemed somewhat surprised at this revelation. "Not even I can come up with a way to get us out of this mess. I'm sorry, Sonic."

"If you would please go ahead and make your ruling, Your Honor?" the old prosecutor asked as he crossed his arms and awaited for the guilty verdict he hardly put up a fight for. "As you said earlier, the court has already heard enough from this case."

"I suspect that neither the defense nor prosecution have anything else to say on this matter," the Judge announced as he waited a few seconds for any final remarks. When he heard nothing, he picked up his gavel and prepared to make his ruling. "Well then, in light of the testimony we just heard and the lack of any adequate refutes from the defense, the court sees no reason to further prolong this trial. From the evidence and testimony that has been presented to the court, I feel more than ready to render my ruling. Under the sole charge of murder, this court finds the defendant, Prosecutor Shadow Hedgehog, to be gui…"

"Hold it right there!_!_" a voice suddenly shouted out just before the Judge finished his sentence and pound his gavel. "Don't say another word, Your Honor! This case is far from being over!"

"Wh-Who said that?_!_" the old man exclaimed as he almost dropped his gavel in surprise and quickly placed it on his desk. "Who dares to disrupt today's proceedings?"

"Me, that's who!" a young voice quickly answered as a familiar yellow blur was seen zooming towards the center of the room where the witness stand was located. "You say you heard everything you need to know, but are you sure that's the full story?"

"Wait a minute!" Sonic whispered out as he instantly recognized the voice and brought his face away from his hands and looked at the witness stand. "That isn't who I think it is, is it?"

"My name's Charmy Bee, and I just so happen to have the second half of the story that you all didn't get!" the hyper little bee quickly introduced himself as he was hovering excitedly over the podium.

"Your Honor, could you please remove this foolish child from the courtroom?" Mephiles simply asked as he kept his arms crossed and did not even bother to make eye contact with the bee. "You've already decided to grant your ruling on this case. It's too late for anything else to be discussed."

"Excuse me Mr. Prosecutor, but I'm afraid that it's never too late!" the bee countered as he pulled out a folded piece of paper from his vest pocket and hovered over to the Judge in order to hand it to him. "In case you don't know, I work for the independent detective group, The Chaotix Detective Agency. By request from a third party that I've already presented to the Judge, I was told to investigate the lighthouse this morning. I've just come back from there, and I ask that you allow me to testify as to what I've found!"

"As I said earlier, it's already too late for there to be anymore testimony!" the prosecutor sternly countered back as he finally met his harsh gaze with the hyper bee who did not even falter from the look. "Your Honor, I ask that you throw out this child and continue on with your ruling."

"I object!" Sonic immediately spoke up once he finally recovered from the initial shock. "Charmy Bee here has come forward as a witness. He even provided legal documentation saying that the detective agency he worked for got a request from a third party to investigate the lighthouse. Because of this, I ask that he be allowed to testify about his findings!"

"Will you honestly stop at nothing in order to stall this court in order to grasp at whatever precious contradiction you can get your hands on? Learn when to admit defeat. You couldn't put a dent in my argument yesterday; and you couldn't form any kind or argument from what was presented today. Nothing will change that fact!"

"And how can you know that if you're already planning on throwing out the only witness left that has yet to be cross-examined?" Tails quickly countered. "Unless we hear what he has to say, we aren't going to be conducting justice with this case. What we'll all be doing is turning a blind eye to a potentially case-breaking detail!"

"That's enough!" the Judge quickly spoke up as he pounded his gavel in order to bring order back into the courtroom. After a couple of minutes, the uproar had finally died down enough for him to be able to say something without having to shout. "If anybody dares to disrupt this court again, I won't hesitate to throw you out. And that also goes for you in the gallery. Now, let me go and add my opinion to this matter.

"As of now, I feel that any more testimony would only be a waste of time," he responded as he carefully eyed both sides of the courtroom to see if either the defense or the prosecution were going to say anything. When he heard nothing, he continued on. "However, as a fellow overseer of the law, I cannot simply make my ruling now when a potential new witness suddenly pops up and provides evidence that they were indeed at what is still being disputed as the actual scene of the crime. In light of this new revelation, I hereby allow the young boy to testify to the court about this matter! Prosecutor Shadow, I order to you call this boy up as a witness. I'll allow you a thirty minute recess in order to adequately prepare, but I expect to see him on the witness stand when we come back!"

"I-If that's what you wish for, Your Honor," Mephiles responded with a slight stutter at this revelation that he was clearly not prepared for. "I'll have this witness ready to testify once the recess is over."

"Very well; then this court shall be suspended for a thirty-minute recess!" the Judge announced before picking up his gavel and pounded it against his desk. Once that was done, he got up from his seat and removed himself to his chambers.

"Uh, what just happened here?" the cobalt hedgehog asked as he stood dumbfounded behind his desk. "Did we really just survive a near guilty verdict?"

"Only through a crazy miracle!" the two tailed fox breathed out in relief before he scratched the back of his ear. "If Charmy didn't come when he did, we definitely would've lost this case now. We better use this time to figure out what we need to know."

"If we're lucky enough that we can even learn anything new in this thirty-minute recess," the defense attorney replied in a somewhat despondent tone before looking down at his evidence that had yet to be touched. "I just hope that Charmy is going to be helpful to us rather than just help dig us into an even deeper hole."

* * *

><p><strong><strong>Just to say one more thing before I leave you all. There is no new evidence, and there is only one new person being introduced in this chapter. So don't worry about all this seeming small and all that. That's just how it is. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

**New Profiles:**

Charmy Bee: a young eight-year-old bee who happens to be employed with the Chaotix Detective Agency. Apparently, he was sent to investigate the lighthouse by a third party who had employed the agency to do so. As such, he has arrived at the courthouse in order to testify about this matter at the very last minute.


	22. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 8

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. I've been working on this bit by bit for the past week, and I must admit that this was definitely the hardest chapter that I've ever written for anything. It was especially hard for me towards the end of the chapter on the last cross-examination portion. Then again, this is why I like to not think ahead when I write except for the current chapter I'm on. It literally means that I'm on even footing with you all in that I have no idea what's going to happen next. How I'm actually pulling this off with a story that has to deal with logic and the fact that Sonic has to win, I honestly have no idea.

Anyway, I hope that you like this new chapter as much as I had writing it, although I must admit it did give me its fair portion of frustration at times, as well. This really showcase how hard Sonic and Tails are going to have to fight just to keep their side of the argument alive. Their only hope out of this mess now is the unexpected witness from last chapter, Charmy Bee. Just what does he know or can lend to this case that can possibly help them out? This is definitely going to be the most interesting trial in this case for both you and me.

Well, I'll let you figure that out for yourself by reading the chapter. All I'll say now is to please leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. I've noticed that in the past couple of chapters, all of you have been unfortunately shy in leaving a review yet being noticeably eager to read my new chapters. Not that I have any problem with it; I just find it a bit strange. But yeah, if you can leave a review that's constructive and offers some suggestions that you may have, that would be greatly appreciated. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: A small spot of blood found on the railing of the lighthouse at the Mobius Docks. Tests are required in order to determine just who it belongs to, although it is speculated to have belonged to the victim, Prosecutor Flora Mae.

Fake Murder Weapon: A proposal brought about by Tails that the weapon the police took from the scene at the docks was not the real murder weapon. It's believed that there might have been a change sometime between the moment it was filed and before the case officially made it into court. It's currently just speculation and needs more evidence in order to be considered a stable possibility.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern.

Flora Mae: A prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office. She was Shadow's coworker and was discovered to have been murdered only after Shadow heard the sound of gunshots at the dock and quickly went to investigate it.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who prefers to go by Max and lives in the lighthouse now under suspicion as being the real crime scene. Apparently, he seems to suffer from some kind of neurological disorder which causes him to have the mindset of a seven-year-old. He seems to believe that his older sister, Lois, is still alive.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

Charmy Bee: a young eight-year-old bee who happens to be employed with the Chaotix Detective Agency. Apparently, he was sent to investigate the lighthouse by a third party who had employed the agency to do so. As such, he has arrived at the courthouse in order to testify about this matter at the very last minute.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 8<strong>

"Charmy's testimony had better be something good for us," Sonic said with a frustrated sigh as he took a violent swig from his soda can he had gotten from the vending machine inside the courthouse lobby. "I don't know how I can keep going with my defensive fuel tank literally running on almost empty the entire time. I'm seriously running out of options here, and he's probably my last bet out of this mess!"

"He's probably also going to be your best bet in getting anything through Mephiles's defensive wall," Shadow spoke up as he took a seat next to the cobalt hedgehog with the bailiff following close by. Whether it was just him doing his job or just being plain nervous at the potential for him to run away, none of them knew. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's right now just as rattled as you are about that little bee's sudden appearance."

"Why do you say that, Shadow?" Tails asked with an eyebrow raised in question before handing the other a Styrofoam cup filled with water while taking a calm sip from his own. "He doesn't really strike me as the type to be easily taken by surprise. He looks more like the kind of guy who's always ready for any kind of possible scenario."

"That's because he always makes it a point to not let anybody see what he considers to be his weaker side," the ebon furred hedgehog explained as he managed to crack an amused smile at the situation they found themselves in. "Haven't you noticed how he always seems to be well prepared with both his evidence and witnesses when you face off with him in the courtroom? That's because he always had a chance to study them both to the best of his abilities in order to see what information is worth retaining and what's negligible or suspicious enough against his case to be at least be obscured or completely filtered out. That's why it always seems like he has the upper hand on you two no matter what kind of contradiction you manage to throw at him or how many flaws you find in his witnesses' stories."

"But he can't do that now since he's never heard of Charmy's testimony before!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he finally realized where his friend was trying to say. "He might be able to hear it a couple of times during this recess, but he can't really do much apart from that with only half an hour to do so. Basically, he's as blind as we are in terms of what's most likely going to happen in court later."

"And that's where your best chance to strike him down is going to be," the defendant finished with a stout nod of his head that made his red striped quills bounce around a bit. "Unlike you and Tails, he isn't used to the prospect of going into court both blind and unprepared. Ever since he first started his career as a prosecutor, he has always been exceptionally prepared to the point that many rumors started flying around about him having forged evidence. They were all unfounded, but they still remain to this day as the only suitable explanation to his exceptionally prepared nature. He's never had any real practice being put on the ropes like this like you two have."

"It's nice to know that we'll at least be on equal footing with him now," the two tailed fox responded before taking another sip of water. "We should be able to get a lot further than we've been able to."

"Provided that Mephiles doesn't learn quickly how to think under pressure like you two can," Knuckles's voice suddenly cut into the conversation as all of the room's occupants turned towards the doorway and saw him walking in with a plastic bag in his hands. "However, I doubt that anybody has the amount of both skill and luck that you two possess."

"What are you doing here, Knuckles?" the defense attorney immediately asked without bothering to give him an adequate greeting. "Aren't you supposed to be at the scene of the crime making sure things don't get messed up or anything like that?"

"Nice to see you as well, Sonic," the echidna replied sarcastically before shaking his head a bit. "And yes, I'm normally supposed to be on crime scene guard duty. However, Silver thought it best that I be here in his stead since he doesn't want to push his luck with disobeying the prosecutor again. He might have told you that he has no fear of being fired by him, but it'd still be hell for him to have to deal with his terrible revenge antics."

"And he figured sending you here to be his eyes and ears for today's proceedings was the best thing he could do," Shadow summarized as he nodded his head in understanding. "He doesn't want to risk getting pulled off the investigation now. He's probably the only Senior Detective who's actually willing to try his best for me not just because of who's the prosecution for this case. He's our best bet for getting through this."

"What's that you got in the bag, Knuckles?" Tails asked as he soon took notice of what was in the detective's hands. "I'm guessing it isn't some kind of boxed lunch for when you get hungry later."

"Oh, what's in here is a lot better than any boxed lunch," the detective responded with a smile as he shoved the bag into Sonic's free hand. "All the evidence that you found during your investigation yesterday is all in here. That's the second reason why I came here, so I could give these things to you two. I only regret that I couldn't have arrived sooner. I kind of heard from some of the gallery people that you barely managed this recess just because Charmy decided to burst into the courtroom at the very last second."

"Yeah, I really got to thank him for that the next chance I get," Sonic said with a small smile before putting his soda down on a nearby table and opened the bag. "Wow, I think this is literally everything that we found in that lighthouse. I better hurry and take a look at them before the recess is over.

"Let's see what we got to work with here," he continued on as he took out each clear plastic bag holding the evidence and read their descriptions. "The Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing is confirmed to have belonged to Ms. Mae. That proves she was definitely up there before she died. The only thing we need to figure out now is why she was even up on the balcony to begin with.

"The next thing here is the Bullet Casing that we also found on the lighthouse balcony. Not surprisingly, it matches with the bullet that shot Ms. Mae with the ballistic markings being the same on both bullet and casing. That means the gun recovered from the docks was really used at the lighthouse. What we need to figure out now is how the murder weapon just magically reappeared at the docks for the police to recover.

"The third thing is the Paperwork that Knuckles found in the lighthouse living room. These particular papers are actually Doctor Reports drafted the day before the murder sent to the lighthouse by express mail. It proves that he goes to the doctors at least once a week for the sake of his condition that is believed to have come around only after the death of his sister. I guess the shock was too much for him and that his childlike state requires him to be taken care of. We don't know who they're supposed to be addressed to due to patient confidentiality and the obvious lack of a reasonable warrant, but it was most likely supposed to be sent to whoever is meant to be taking care of Mr. Pryce. The only question now is who is this caretaker?

"The next piece of paper is the Letter that Silver found in the lighthouse basement. A handwriting analysis can't be performed since there's nobody within reasonable boundaries to compare it to, but there was just a single set of fingerprints found on it. As it would be guessed, they belong to Mr. Pryce; I guess the person who wrote this out was wearing gloves at the time. That means we're most likely dealing with a very cautious and calculating person.

"And the last piece of evidence that we found during our investigation is the Red Paper we found taped on the side of the docks and retrieved with Silver's help. Apparently, this paper is actually the outer husk of a small commercial Firecracker, and the black stain that's on it is a burn mark that resulted from the explosion that happened when it was set off. There are some small fibers akin to that of a rope found on the tape, but they are mostly burned off. Perhaps the Firecracker was meant to snap the rope it was on, but what is the reason for having done that? And unlike the Letter, no fingerprints could be found on either the paper or the tape. If the person who wrote the Letter and put this Firecracker on the side of the docks is the same, then he really knows how to think ahead and avoid any kind of mistakes that would have even the smallest chance of leading to his discovery."

"To be perfectly honest, I'm still a bit uncomfortable at the fact that the murder weapon shows signs of being fired three times," Tails announced with clear unease in his words once the explanation of the newly received evidence was over. "If everything that we've learned up to now is correct, then we only have one registered gunshot. That would naturally be the one that led to Ms. Mae's death by drowning. I guess we still have more investigating to do later if we're to figure out whether or not the other shot is related to this case."

"I'll try to look into it later today when I have the time, provided that I can even pull it off without Mephiles breathing down my neck," Knuckles promised before his face quickly changed to register a sense of remembrance. With that, he began to reach into his jacket pocket and pull a couple more things out. "Oh, I also have a couple more things to give you guys. One of them is a written affidavit from the people at the forensics department saying that they believe the chances of the gun Ms. Rose saw Shadow holding was in fact a Fake Murder Weapon. This was concluded through the evidence you found at the lighthouse."

"Sounds like my assumption back at the lighthouse was right on target," the two tailed fox responded as he took the paper and quickly read through it. "This should really help in getting us closer to the truth of things. Now we just need to find a right time in court to make this information really hurt the prosecution."

"The other thing I have isn't really evidence for the case, but I'm figuring that it's best to let you in on it," the echidna continued on as he pulled something else out that looked a lot like a photograph. "I'm not sure if you remember being that the past couple of days have been very hectic, but Salemand Eres is still trying to find his brother. I ran into him while I was making my way here, but he seemed to be in a real hurry. He barely handed me this picture he said was of his brother before he quickly left."

"Oh, I completely forgotten about him!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he suddenly remembered the conversation that took place the afternoon before he took on this case. He then took the Picture and saw that it showed a white furred lion with blue spots appearing every now and then and smiling a big smile towards the camera with his admittedly cute lion face. "I don't think I ever saw anybody with this weird Feralisis Syndrome. It can't be that hard to miss somebody like him roaming around the streets. I'm guessing then he's not having a lot of luck with Vector's detective work."

"Actually, Vector is busting his butt trying to find this guy's brother," the detective replied. "I've never seen him work this hard with his detective work, but I guess Salemand gave him a pretty convincing reason for acting fast. I even tried some things on my end and look up the name he gave us, Leucis Kruger, but I found no record of anybody by that name. He most likely gave us a fake name, but I don't know why if he wanted us to help him. I didn't even find the cat himself in the records. I really don't have a good feeling about this guy."

"Did you just say the name Salemand Eres?" Shadow suddenly spoke up as he took a keen interest in what was being talked about.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that's what he just said," the defense attorney replied with a questioning look on his face. "Why so interested about this? Do you happen to know the guy or something?"

Before he could receive any answer, the bailiff signaled that it was time for court to continue. He then escorted Shadow back into the courtroom while the three others were left to their own thoughts.

"I guess we aren't going to be getting an answer to that anytime soon," Tails said with a shrug of his shoulders as he took the bag of evidence after his brother put them all back in. "Let's remember to ask him about it once today's over. For now, let's just concentrate with what might happen in the next couple of hours."

"Yeah, you're right," Sonic complied as he let the two tailed fox handle the bag as the three made their way into the courtroom. Since Knuckles was neither a witness nor a part of the defense, he made his way to the gallery section where he found a spare seat while the other two took their rightful spots. Not surprisingly, Mephiles was already in his proper place, although he seemed ever so slightly unsure of himself with the current situation he has found himself in. This was no doubt because of Charmy having suddenly come about as a witness right when he was about to win the case.

"The court will now reconvene!" the Judge announced right after he came back from his chambers and made his way to his desk. Just as he made himself comfortable, he added, "I trust that the prosecution has used this time to prepare the sudden surprise witness like I had requested before the recess?"

"Of course, Your Honor," the old hedgehog coolly responded as if he did not find anything wrong with calling up a surprise witness that was not planned on his end. "As instructed, I've set myself up so that we would be ready to hear what this witness has to say about the lighthouse. I've already asked him a few basic questions, and he regrettably seems more than competent to testify."

"Very well; go ahead and bring in the witness, Bailiff!" the old man commanded with a bang of his gavel.

"No need to escort me in, Your Honor!" Charmy's hyper voice rang clearly throughout the courtroom as a familiar yellow blur buzzed all the way from the lobby doors to the witness stand in the center of the room. "I'm already here."

"Well, it sounds like somebody's eager to have their story heard. So from what I've reviewed of the document you showed me earlier, a third party had employed the services of the Chaotix Detective Agency about the day before this case began. Upon accepting the job, you were sent to investigate the lighthouse just this morning. Do you mind testifying to the court why you chose to investigate the building today rather than at the latest the day after receiving the job offer to do so?"

"I wouldn't be here if I couldn't testify to you all, now would I?" the hyper bee responded happily much to the prosecutor's clear dismay. "I'll be more than happy to tell you why Vector waited until now to investigate the lighthouse."

"Time to prepare for the wildest ride of our life," the cobalt hedgehog said as he mentally braced himself for what he felt to be most likely the craziest court day in his entire job history. "I only hope that from all this craziness will come a strong moment of truth for us or at least a chance to really catch Mephiles off-guard."

"We may have not known this guy for very long, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Charmy's the last person that prosecutor can manipulate even if he were already assigned as a witness by him," Tails said as he gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "But like you said, all that matters now is what kind of truth he's going to tell us."

"As long as it's not the kind of truth that's going to bury us alive, I'll happily take anything he has to say," the attorney responded as he was more than prepared to hear what was going to be said.

_**Why Choose Today to Investigate**_

I figured that you wanted to hear about what I found at the lighthouse first. Oh well, I guess knowing why we waited to investigate the place is pretty important in its own right. Well, I'm not too sure on the reason myself being that I'm not the one making the key decisions about the job. Vector's the one who gives the orders; I just follow them. However, I do remember kind of overhearing the croc talking a bit with the person who made the original request. He said something about wanting to wait for the right moment to check the place, and I figure that he chose this morning to be the best time.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"And this is the reason why you chose today to investigate?" the Judge questioned while not seeming all too happy with the answer. "From what you just told the court, you're not overly sure if that's even the right answer. If Prosecutor Vector is indeed the leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency, then why isn't he here testifying in your place?"

"Unfortunately, the croc is right now busy with his own work as a prosecutor," Charmy simply explained with a grin. "Unless you want him to be fired, he can't come. As a substitute, I decided to step in. I may not be able to testify as well as him, but I know that what I say is nothing but the truth as I know it to be."

"We shall see about that," Mephiles replied without as much gusto as he usually did but still enough to sound somewhat threatening. "Well, is the defense going to cross-examine the witness or just be content standing there like a couple of ornaments?"

"Of course we're going for the cross-examination," Sonic answered with a smug look on his face. "Just be patient and watch the unscripted show take its course."

Instead of answering, the old prosecutor simply snarled at the cobalt hedgehog and his remark. He apparently knew full well what he meant and was clearly not happy with it. However, he quickly recovered and went back to crossing his arms in his usual cocky manner, although the brothers could tell he was simply putting up a calm farce now to offset the panic he was expertly hiding from everybody.

"I think we have Mephiles on the ropes now," the two tailed fox whispered to his brother. "Don't you notice how unusually quiet he's being? He also seems to be lacking that cockiness he usually has when he says something to us."

"That just means that this surprise witness deal is working to our advantage!" the attorney whispered back as he could not help but let a triumphant smile appear on his lips at the change in situation. "I wouldn't be surprised if he actually didn't object as much to every single thing I say. It's about time that he got a taste of his own 'cornered against the wall' medicine. Now we just need to make sure he keeps taking it and everything will be fine."

"As fine as things could be considering," the other could not help but add as a reflection and reminder to how the position of their defense currently stood. It was still in a bad position, and this testimony would no doubt either fix it or break it beyond repair.

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Before we get to the main point, do you mind I ask you something that's a bit off-topic?" Sonic asked Charmy as he took into consideration the testimony he had just heard. "Why did you figure that the court would want to hear about your findings first before talking to you about why you waited so long to actually investigate the lighthouse as per your client's agreement? If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't go about assuming what it is the courts would want me to testify about."

"Well, I heard from Vector that you're all working on a case that's revolving around that place," the bee simply explained with a shrug of his shoulders while hovering over the witness stand so as to not be completely dwarfed by its large size. "I just figured that you'd all be wondering what it was that I managed to dig up from there. That's what I would do if I heard something like this happening."

"And I assure you that we're all very curious as to what you found there," Mephiles calmly replied with his hard eyes on the young bee. "However, we've already asked you to testify about one thing, and we only want to hear about that now."

"Alright, no need to get all huffy there," the witness countered with a childish roll of his eyes. "I'll get to that point as soon as I can."

"Then how about we get to there now?" the cobalt hedgehog suggested. "You said that you didn't know the exact reason why you were told to investigate the lighthouse this morning rather than at least the day after you received the request to do so. Could you at least offer an educated guess on the reason for having to wait?"

"If I were to take a guess, I would say that the client who hired us wanted us to wait a bit. After all, we run by the business motto that the customer is always right. So long as we're not told to do something highly illegal like smuggling drugs or whatnot, we're happy to bend to our client's orders."

"But as you said earlier, you're not sure if that's the case," Tails clarified as he tried to push for another plausible possibility. "Is it not possible then that Vector was the one who actually suggested that you hold off on your investigation of the lighthouse? It's possible that he caught wind of the place being a part of our investigation."

"Sorry Tails, but that's really not possible. Don't you remember me explaining earlier that we only got the request to search that place the day before your case started? From what I heard Vector tell me, the lighthouse wasn't even in consideration on the first day of this trial. It's impossible for him to have known the request and this case were going to be at least connected in that regard."

"Oh, I honestly forgot about that," the two tailed fox admitted as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck for his rare moment of forgetfulness in key details. "But even you would have to admit that it's strange how your request and our case seem to be connected if not only in regards to the lighthouse."

"Strange or not, that's just how things happen to be here," the old prosecutor countered as he continued to have his arms crossed. "It's a little something that the real world likes to call coincidence. How else would you care to explain it?"

"Well, if we can get more details on the general contract the Chaotix Detective Agency were given, then maybe we can figure out whether or not this really is just coincidence," the defense attorney suggested as the idea suddenly came to him. "Charmy, do you think it's possible for you to tell us a bit about the contract?"

"…Well, Vector didn't say anything about not saying anything about it, so I guess I can tell you some things," Charmy responded after thinking it over for a couple of seconds. "But don't go thinking that I'm going to tell you everything about it."

"Don't worry; just tell us whatever it is that you can say about it. We're not pressuring you to say things that are outside of your scope."

"I wonder about that sometimes with your other witnesses," the prosecutor said sarcastically in a barely audible voice that was still easily caught by the brothers. "From what I've heard yesterday, you're always on the verge of badgering my witness. I dare say you're right now doing the same thing here."

"Funny, I don't really hear you complaining about anything right now."

"Can we please just hear what the witness has to say about the contract?" the Judge asked with a sigh of frustration that caused both sides of the courtroom to quiet down. "Now witness; what do you know about the contract with your client that you can share with us?"

_**New Statement**_

Well, I saw a little addition on the contract dated yesterday saying that the job has some possible connection to your case.

_**End New Statement**_

"So even Vector figured that the two might be connected in some way," Sonic took notice as he looked thoughtful about the new information. "That would mean that the person who you made a contract with was either tipped off about this or he is connected with the lighthouse. I don't have any evidence to support it, but I dare say that your testimony is proof enough of such a possibility existing. Do you think it's possible that you could tell us the name of your client, Charmy?"

"Sorry, but we don't make it a habit to be releasing any of our clients' names," Charmy explained as he shook his head. "When people come to ask for our services, we agree to take the fall for any problems that may arise in their stead. After all, it would kind of defeat the purpose of having them hire a private detective to look into matters and end up still having them figured out as the one who hired us in the first place. We find that it might run the possibility of placing the client in unnecessary trouble.

"However, the only exception to that is if the client is involved in some kind of crime either before or after the employment of our services," he continued to explain in a rather smooth manner as if he went through this process before. "And just to say, we don't go running background checks on our clients. The only reason we would do so is if we find reasonable suspicion that they might not be legitimately innocent people."

"In other words, there's no possible way that the witness is going to tell you the name of his client," Mephiles concluded as he seemed to have recovered his full cocky attitude that had been strangely lost ever since the trial resumed. "I object to this clearly pointless line of questioning. All you're doing with this is wasting our time."

"Objection sustained," the Judge agreed with a nod of his head before banging his gavel. "Even I admit that this is starting to lose patience with me, Mr. Sonic. I suggest that you either move onto another line of questioning or just end your cross-examination. I doubt I have to remind you again about not wasting the court's time?"

"O-Of course not, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he quickly came up with another question. "If you can't tell us their name, then could you at least tell us the reason why your client wanted you to search the lighthouse?"

"…I guess I could tell you about that," the bee answered after giving it a bit of thought. "I'm telling you though; you're really pushing the boundaries of what I'm able to tell you. However, I really doubt that you can figure out who our client is just by what he asked us to do, so I don't see the harm?"

"Are you always this lax with details concerning your contracts?" Tails asked as he was clearly amazed with how laid-back the bee was being. "I find it hard to believe that you're just giving us the information we're asking for with hardly any resistance."

"I'm normally don't say a single thing about it. However, I figured that what we're both working on has some connections with each other; I thought it'd be best to answer what I can for you all. I mean, I'm sure that Vector would've done the same; although I doubt he'd say as much as I've been saying."

"Frankly, I'm getting tired of hearing you talk," the prosecutor refuted as the irritation in his voice was starting to build up again. "If you're not going to answer the defenses question, then I'm going to have you removed from here for contempt of court."

"Contempt for not answering a question? Do I even look like I'm being a very uncooperative witness here? You better start rethinking how you make those threats!"

"In any case, do you mind getting on with answering the defense's question?" the Judge gently prodded so as to not make the hyper bee anymore worked up than he was. "We really don't have a lot of time. Please tell us just what it was your client asked you to search for inside the lighthouse."

"Geez, even the Judge's starting to rush me. Are we all really in that much of a hurry to get this over with?"

_**New Statement**_

Anyway, our client told us that he wanted us to look for his younger brother who had been missing for a while now.

_**End New Statement**_

"Younger brother?" Sonic repeated as he could not help but feel a certain amount of familiarity in the last statement. "Your client wanted you to look for his little brother inside the lighthouse? That's kind of a strange place to ask any detective to look. If I were him, I'd have you look somewhere else rather than breaking into somebody's home like that."

"Actually, it was more like looking for information about his whereabouts in there than actually looking for his brother," Charmy clarified as he put a bit more detail into it for better understanding. "You see, he said that the last place he remembered his little brother being at was somewhere around the lighthouse. He didn't give any specifics as to why he was there; he just suggested that we search the building for any clues."

"And I'm supposing you didn't find much in that regard," Tails stated more than asked as he looked thoughtful about the whole situation. He then added while being careful not to disclose any information on the new evidence they had received during the past recess, "I mean, a detective on the scene allowed us inside the lighthouse when we went to search for evidence ourselves yesterday. I can't say we found any evidence of anybody ever being in there recently except for Mr. Pryce."

"That's because you were all busy looking for what only had something to do with your case," the bee countered with a cheeky smile. "On the other hand, I was looking for things that had to do with my job; I just happened to stumble upon a couple of things that happen to belong to your case at the same time. And before any of you ask, I'm not going to show you what we found in that place in regards to our client's request."

"As if any of us in here were even remotely interested in such pointless trivialities," Mephiles spat out with a roll of his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose as if to stave off a headache. "If we are quite done here, might I ask that we move onto something else? Judging from what's been heard, I highly doubt that whoever this client is really has anything to do with our case."

"But I still find it strange that this person specifically asked the Chaotix Detective Agency to wait for the 'right time' before they searched the lighthouse for any signs of his brother," the cobalt hedgehog objected. "Charmy, are you sure you didn't hear any kind of reason as to why your client wanted you to wait?"

"…I can't really say that this is the reason, but I did hear him saying something about Mr. Pryce being in the lighthouse the whole day during the first day of your case. My guess is that he didn't want us to go around playing the stealth mission and rather we waited until he was going to be out for a good amount of time. Vector and I supposed that now would be the greatest of times simply because of him being escorted by the police to this place."

"Again, this is all good information, but it has nothing to do with us!" the prosecutor responded with some venom in his words. "This is nothing but a complete waste of time, especially since we don't even know who this client is. If we did, then I might consider having him brought in for questioning here and now. But since we don't know, I petition the courts to have the defense end their cross-examination immediately! It's clear that they're merely wasting our time with frivolous details."

"Would you consider me wasting our time if I said that I can now safely identify who their client is?" the defense attorney countered as he finally realized in his mind why Charmy's statement about the client looking for his younger brother was so familiar now. "Would you concede to the fact that I might be on the right track if I can produce the correct name?"

"If you can put your money where your mouth is, then I suppose I can let your stall tactics slide just this once. So come on; we don't have all day to be wasting! Who do you say is this person that you say you believe to be the Chaotix Detective Agency's client and who also has some kind of connection to this case?"

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'll go ahead and say the name," Sonic responded in a cocky tone while failing to notice Charmy waving his hands around as a signal to not say anything. "The person who I believe to be our witness's client and who also holds some connection to this case is…"

"Hold it!" the bee loudly shouted so as to get everybody's attention. "You're not seriously planning on saying the guy's name, are you?"

"That is what I'm planning," the cobalt hedgehog replied with an eyebrow raised in confusion at the sudden outburst. "Are you planning on stopping me or something?"

"As a matter of fact, I am!" the witness responded with a stout nod of his head. "Do you remember the document I handed the Judge when I first came here? It says on there that as a requirement of our end of things, we are to not make mention of his name at any given time for any given reason. We only had one other client do that before, but he was a pretty high profile guy. If you blurt out his name just like that, who knows what kind of trouble he might be in?"

"…You know that we could just subpoena either you or Vector for that information, right?" Tails stated in a deadpan fashion. "If we resort to that, then it's just going to make things a whole lot harder on you."

"Unfortunately, I don't believe that is going to be an admissible course of action," Mephiles quickly spoke up as his lips twitched into a half-smile. "You see, a subpoena is usually only issued when there is reasonable merit that the information being withheld will pertain to the case at hand. Now correct me if I'm wrong here, but we're merely dealing with a supposition. And if I remember correctly, this supposition has yet to even be adequately proven to be a possible fact. I'm sure that the Judge will agree with me on the fact that your motion for a subpoena is quite underdone."

"Prosecutor Mephiles is right on this," the Judge simply agreed. "What you have provided to us Mr. Sonic is only an assumption, and a poorly made one at that. I'm afraid I can't grant your appeal for a subpoena of information."

"But it wasn't even me who suggested it in the first place!" the defense attorney complained as he shot an annoyed look at his brother for putting him in this situation. "It was my partner here who said it. And besides, he was merely pointing out a course of action; he wasn't actually suggesting that we do it."

"Look, I really don't care if you end up forcing the information out of me or not," Charmy quickly cut in before things got way off-topic. "All I'm saying is that I'm not about to go behind my client's wishes and have his name revealed to the world. However," he added with a thoughtful look on his face and hovered closer to Sonic, "I'm sure it'd be more than okay if you just whisper the name of the person who you think is our client. If you're right, then I'll let only you two have the pleasure of knowing who our client is. If you're wrong, then this discussion wouldn't have mattered in the slightest. That a deal?"

"I suppose it's better than nothing," the two tailed fox replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he leaned in close to where the bee had stopped beside Sonic in order to hear what his older brother was going to say."

"… … …Wow, I can't believe you actually got it right!" Charmy exclaimed in surprise before hovering back to the witness stand. "Yeah, that's the guy who asked us for his help. If you want, I can try and ask Vector if he can get into contact with him so you can ask him whatever it is you want."

"That'll be great," Sonic said in a grateful tone accompanied with a triumphant smile before getting back to pace with the trial. "Now that we've got that out of the way, I suggest that we move onto the next question that we want to ask the witness."

"Uh, okay," the old man replied in slight confusion as to what just went on and the sudden change of pace. "Is this alright with you, Prosecutor Mephiles?"

"Do you see me complaining?" the prosecutor simply spat out.

"Then I suppose we'll move on. Now that we've established to some extent the reason why there was a delay in the witness searching the lighthouse under the instructions of his client, let's move onto what was found there. Can you testify to the court what you found in the lighthouse that has any relation to our case?"

"No problem!" the bee stated with a wide smile. "That was what I originally came here to do, after all. Prepared to be amazed everybody!"

"I'd really like to see you top what I just managed to figure out," the cobalt hedgehog whispered as he rolled his eyes at the witness's overenthusiasm. "Then again, anything's more than possible when it's a surprise witness."

"I second that thought," Tails agreed with a light chuckle before regaining his serious attitude and prepared to listen to the next testimony.

_**Evidence From the Lighthouse**_

In terms of the evidence that I came across that has something to do with this case, I warn you that it might not be the case breaker you're looking for. In fact, I'd say that you guys did a pretty good job sweeping the place. I just happened to come across some spots that you all apparently overlooked. They happen to be a set of Fingerprints that I've sent a picture of to Vector and a Gun. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that one of them might just be that important something that the defense has been looking for all this time!

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"A set of Fingerprints and a Gun?" the Judge repeated as he raised his eyebrows at these new pieces of evidence. "Did you get a chance to have them analyzed yet?"

"Well, I did make a quick stop at Vector's to drop off what I found," Charmy explained before giving off a small shrug. "It's only been about an hour and a half at most since I gave the stuff to him, so he should be close to done provided he's got the forensics people working their butts off it. If things go well, I should get a text message on my phone from him during this time. That's just a little warning in case you see me looking at my phone and start grilling me about taking calls later."

"Well, I do thank you for that forewarning," the old man thanked as he took into consideration that the bee might take out his phone. "Once the information comes, please share it with this court."

"Until then, might I suggest that the defense continue on with whatever it is that they have planned for us to suffer through?" Mephiles spoke up. It is clear that he is not happy with the way the court proceeding is going, and things are at least right now not in his control. "This witness is the only thing getting in my way from the guilty verdict that had been so rudely disrupted out of the Judge."

"Ever heard the saying that haste makes waste?" Tails replied with his arms crossed, his face looking a bit smug and clearly enjoying the prosecutor having trouble trying to keep up with his attacks. "I know that you really value your perfect win record above all else, but is it really worth it if you end up being gravely suspected for court misconduct? I think that this case would be a good example of such a claim sticking if you keep on acting like that."

"How dare you, you little brat?_!_" the old hedgehog growled out as he balled up his fists in anger. "You think you can scare me with your slanderous threats?"

"I wouldn't say that it's as slanderous as the ones you've been spewing out at us since yesterday," the two tailed fox countered as he felt more than comfortable with exchanging blows with the other. He then said in a somewhat sarcastic fashion while imitating the other a bit, "However, now's not the time for such trivialities. Why don't we hurry up through this wonderful cross-examination and stop wasting the court's time?"

"Y-Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!" Sonic said quickly as he started to feel nervous at the tension that was growing thicker by the minute. "Let's get on with it!"

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Charmy, why do you feel that the evidence you found at the lighthouse that has to do with our case might not be a case breaker?" Sonic asked with his head slightly cocked to the side in question. "I hardly think that it's something for you to decide."

"That's why it's something that we all like to call an opinion," Charmy explained with a roll of his eyes at being asked such a question. "My opinion on the matter was that the evidence was not going to be case breakers. I wasn't saying that they definitely were not. There's a clear difference between the two."

"Gee, sorry I asked," the cobalt hedgehog apologized as he instantly regretted having asked the question. "Let's just move on to a different question. If you were to have actually been purposefully looking for evidence in our case, how hard would you say it'd have been to have spotted the Fingerprints and the Gun?"

"To be perfectly honest, it might've been hard even if I were specifically looking for things related to this case," the bee explained as he seemed a bit lost in thought. "Those Fingerprints were found on a teacup that was pushed all the way to the back of a cupboard with the other cups. The only thing strange about this was that the cup was still filled with something, so I'm thinking that it was put there in a hurry. That's why I figured that these Fingerprints might have something to do with your case. I also figured on that because I know for a fact that my client's brother cannot possibly drink out from any kind of cup."

"And what about the Gun?" Tails asked as he felt the explanation on the prints were acceptable for the time being. "Where did you find that? I'm sure that something like that is pretty hard to miss during an investigation."

"Believe it or not, I found the gun hiding behind a working clock face. Even I would've missed it if I hadn't just noticed that the dust line didn't match with each other. I doubt that anybody would've thought to have looked there even if they were seasoned detectives."

"Hmm, I wonder why a man like Mr. Pryce would have a Gun just lying around in his home like that?" the Judge wondered with a slightly confused look on his face. "Judging by his character, I hardly find him to be the most competent person to be an owner of a gun."

"Perhaps he was the owner of one back when he was still a competent man," Mephiles suggested. "After all, don't forget that he hadn't always been like this. I'm not sure if Your Honor had been made aware of this, but it was only until traumatic events came to pass did he turn into this childlike state."

"Oh, then that would make perfect sense," the old man admitted with a nod of his head. "Does the defense have any objections to the prosecution's explanation of things?"

"There is one thing that the prosecutor has failed to take into account," Sonic stated as he stared down Mephiles. "What they failed to take into account is Charmy's testimony on the state he found the clock that the Gun was hidden behind."

"And what of it?" the prosecutor asked with a huff of his breath in annoyance. "I hardly see the importance to such a minor detail."

"But don't you remember him saying that the only reason he went about searching the clock was because he noticed the lines of dust not matching with each other? If it weren't for that, I doubt our witness would've given the clock a second glance! It's under this thought that I believe that Gun had been taken out sometime very recently!"

"So you proved that the clock was most likely opened recently. I hardly see anything it has to do with this case. And where is your evidence that suggests that the Gun was even used within recent times? You're once again just delving into assumptions without having a shred of evidence to back it up."

"Well then, we propose that forensics report on the gun will help solidify my claim that the gun was used recently," Tails countered as he tried to find a way to keep his brother's claim alive. "I'm sure that you can't prove what we're saying can't be a possibility without the report, so that leaves us in a stalemate on this regard."

"Hey, no need to fight over something like this," Charmy spoke up as he took out his cell phone and began fiddling around with it. "I just got an email from Vector that has the forensics report on it."

"Oh, then can you please add the information to your testimony?" the Judge asked as he seemed more than intrigued by this revelation. "And please try to keep it as succinct as possible."

_**New Statement**_

The report on the Gun says that it's just a fake, but it does have Shadow's fingerprints on it.

_**End New Statement**_

"W-Wait a minute!" Sonic interrupted right after hearing this new information. "Did you just say that Shadow's fingerprints were on the Gun? But that's not possible! I mean, Shadow was never inside that lighthouse at any given time."

"Even I must admit that this seems like a strong impossibility," Mephiles admitted, although he did not look quite taken aback as one would normally be. "All the evidence we have quite adequately disproves the notion of the defendant ever having set foot in that lighthouse on the morning of the murder."

"I have an idea as to what might explain this strange phenomenon, but I still lack the needed evidence in order to suggest it," Tails said as he was seemingly waiting for the right time to spring one of the new pieces of evidence they received during the recess. "Until then, might I suggest that we move onto the details of the Fingerprints?"

"If the defense so wishes it to be so," the Judge responded as he seemed confused as to why the fox was not putting up a fight on this detail like he usually did when he felt something about certain points. "You do want to temporarily abandon this point, right?"

"If my assistant so wishes it," the cobalt hedgehog simply replied with a nod of his head. "I trust him on issues like this, and I'm sure that he has his reasons for not wanting to pursue this contradiction at the moment."

"I must say that this is somewhat unusual," the old man admitted in confusion before lightly shrugging his shoulders.

"I find nothing unusual in the defense temporarily admitting defeat," the prosecutor said with a sort of evil smirk. "And since they have done so, I ask that the witness continue on with his forensics report. Tell us what you found out on the Fingerprints."

"Alright, no need to be rushing me here!" Charmy exclaimed a bit angrily at Mephiles's pushiness. "I'll get to it when I get to it."

_**New Statement**_

The next thing is the Fingerprints that we found on the strangely placed cup, and they belong to… B-But that can't be right!

_**End New Statement**_

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked after seeing Charmy hesitating a bit on his testimony. "Is your email corrupt or something?"

"No, I'm just…a bit thrown off-track by this report," the bee admitted as he regained his composure. "According to this report, the Fingerprints belong to the victim in your case, Ms. Flora Mae!"

"The victim's prints were found inside the lighthouse?_!_" the Judge exclaimed while the gallery began to talk amongst themselves about this surprising revelation. "But how is this possible? Prosecutor Mae has no reason whatsoever to have ever set foot within that lighthouse!"

"She might have no reason to be there, but the fact remains that she was there," the cobalt hedgehog countered before anybody could say anything else about how impossible this was. "And if you think about what I've been claiming since the end of yesterday's proceedings, I say that it was more than possible that Ms. Mae was in the lighthouse in the moments before she was murdered there!"

"Once again, you're mindlessly rushing into conclusions," Mephiles quickly countered with a huff of his breath. "You might have been able to prove through this that Ms. Mae was indeed inside the lighthouse, but that's really the best you can do. You don't have anything of damning nature that can allow you to say she was there on the day of her murder. Therefore, you still don't have evidence for your claim that she was killed there!"

"Sounds like he's now starting to get used to coming up with suitable arguments on the fly," Tails said as he took notice of hard it had increasingly become to get any good point through the prosecutor now. "We better find a way to end this quickly before he really regains his regular beat-down attitude."

"Uh, can I continue here?" Charmy asked after being relatively quiet for the whole short exchange. "I still kind of have more to add on this."

"You mean there's more that Vector figured out on the Fingerprints?" the cobalt hedgehog responded. "Please don't tell me that this is another one of those bombshell information."

"I think I'll let you decide whether it is or not. But still, this is what really took me off guard earlier. These Fingerprints kind of hold a sense of familiarity to the croc. When he looked deeper into it, he noticed that they also appeared in another case. However, these prints belong to one of the victims in that case."

"And what case are you talking about?" the fox asked with an eyebrow raised in question.

"…They belong to Mr. Pryce's deceased sister who according to Vector's email here was one of the victims of the LK-9 Incident, Ms. Lois Pryce!"

"What?_!_" both Sonic and Tails exclaimed as the courtroom got into an even louder uproar. Then the cobalt hedgehog added, "Are you telling us that the victim on this case, Ms. Flora Mae, is actually the supposed dead woman from the LK-9 Incident, Ms. Lois Pryce? How the hell is that possible?"

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Order!" the Judge announced over the chatter of the gallery while banging away at his gavel. "I said order! I will throw everybody out if I do not have order in this courtroom! Mr. Sonic, what in the world is this supposed to mean?"

"I-I don't know, Your Honor!" Sonic admitted just as the gallery finally quieted down. "The only thing I can say for sure is that the person we had believed to have been dead for the past two years had in fact been alive and well until her murder two days ago. That and this woman appears to have been Mr. Pryce's older sister, as well!

"But if we put this new information alongside with the Fingerprints, then I feel the possibility of her being in the lighthouse on the day of her murder increases drastically!" the cobalt hedgehog continued on as his brain calmed down enough for him to make this potential connection. "If Ms. Mae is in fact Ms. Pryce, then she would've most likely visited her brother as much as she could. It would only make sense especially since he's been put into this childlike state that we've bore witness to."

"But if the detail of Ms. Pryce's death has been a lie all this time, then wouldn't it also be most likely that Mr. Pryce's claim of mental instability also be a lie?" Tails added as the thought suddenly crossed his mind. "If we think about it, we've been led under the assumption that his instability stemmed from the supposed death of his sister. However, I say that he's merely putting on an act so as to cover up that very death. It would make a lot of sense considering what we've already figured out."

"And just how do you plan on proving this rather wild claim of yours boy?" Mephiles questioned with a raised eyebrow in amusement. "Possibilities are only just baseless guesses unless you have the evidence to back it up. I somehow doubt you have something like that in your possession."

"…I don't have direct evidence proving what I said along with my partner's statements are anywhere near the truth," the defense attorney admitted before quickly speaking again in order to prevent the old hedgehog from making any retort. "However, I believe that I might be able to indirectly prove our claims if we can prove that our victim was in the lighthouse when she was murdered."

"Well, that's quite an interesting claim you're making here," the prosecutor stated with a thoughtful look on his face. He then said with a sort of secretive smile appearing on his lips, "I'm honestly actually quite interested in this peculiar proposition of yours. I'll tell you what; I'll go ahead and entertain what you're proposing for the moment. However, my only condition for doing so is that as you're explaining the scenario you have in your head that tells us why she was up in the lighthouse, you present evidence to back up your claim. If you fail to succinctly prove every wild claim that appears during your explanation, then it'll prove you're simply grasping at empty air, and I'll have you for obstruction of justice. Do you agree to these conditions, Mr. Sonic?"

"…If that's what it takes to get you to listen to me, then yes. We'll both gladly accept your terms."

"Very well; then let's get this game of wits started. And to make it more interesting, I'll go ahead and treat this as a cross-examination. In essence, you've already provided us with your testimony that you can prove your claim, so I find it only fair to engage this as if you were a witness," he added as his eyes seemed to reflect the fact that he had finally managed to trap the defensive team in an inescapable corner.

"My, this case really is delving off from normal procedure," the Judge announced as he saw both sides of the courtroom locked in their battle of words. "Then again, this case is already becoming quite confusing. I suppose then I'll just mediate this to make sure that nothing ends up getting out of hand."

_**Begin Faux Cross-Examination**_

"I don't think I ever heard of a prosecution-heavy cross-examination before against a defense attorney, but I suppose conditions deem it necessary if I'm to get across any of my points to you," Sonic responded with a shrug of his shoulders before getting into his explanation of how he thought the events leading up to Ms. Mae's murder happened. "Anyway, let me start off by saying that Ms. Mae was definitely inside the lighthouse on the day she was murdered. The evidence I have that proves this is the Fingerprints found and recovered by Charmy here. And since they prove that she is in actuality Mr. Pryce's sister, Lois Pryce, I find it more than reasonable to believe that she was there that morning."

"Need I remind you that the Fingerprints themselves hardly prove anything about her being there at that exact moment?" Mephiles questioned with a shake of his head. "You're going to need something else to at least prove a reason for her to have gone to the lighthouse within at least the evening before or the morning of her murder."

"Then how about this?" the cobalt hedgehog fought back as he presented the Doctor Reports he had received back during the recess. "These papers are Doctor Reports drafted by none other than a doctor stating that Mr. Pryce had visited him the day before the murder. They were found in the living room of the lighthouse. They claim that he is still suffering from his psychological problems, but they were sent by express mail to the lighthouse as proof of the envelope we found them in with the address on it. Clearly, this would mean that he needed a caretaker of sorts at least frequently visiting the place if the Doctor Reports were mailed there. And if that is the truth, then why have we yet to be introduced to this caretaker? That person has yet to be accounted for in all of this!"

"Unfortunately, we don't know where she is," the prosecutor calmly explained with his arms crossed. "We did not get any kind of name when we questioned Mr. Pryce about it except that she was a woman, and we could not get any information about her from the doctors without the aid of a subpoena."

"Then how about we say that Ms. Mae was his caretaker for the sake of supposition?" Tails suggested without wasting a single moment. "The Fingerprints on the cup at least prove that she was in the lighthouse sometime recently, so I would say that possibility is more than likely, especially when you consider the fact that our victim is Mr. Pryce's sister."

"Alright, I concede the fact that there was a high probability of our victim being there. However, that's the best you've proven thus far. You still failed to fully prove your claim that our victim was in the lighthouse when she was murdered."

"Why don't you shut up for once and let the defense take their time?" Charmy spoke up in an attempt to get Mephiles off of the defense's back. "How would you like it if they kept getting on your back while you were busy trying to prove something? I'm sure you wouldn't like it one bit."

"I ask that the witness not speak unless spoken to," the prosecutor simply responded in an attempt to shut the bee up. "He has no business in what we're currently discussing. If you do choose to stay, then do kindly shut your mouth. Now with that aside," he continued on while ignoring the blatantly searing gaze he was getting from one particularly angry bee, "can the defense prove that our victim was most likely murdered in the lighthouse?"

"Well, I believe that I can now comfortably say that she was indeed there at the time of her murder," Sonic explained with a cheek smile appearing on his face as he then took out the forensics report regarding the Blood. "We have here a report on a small amount of Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing. According to the results, they belong to none other than our victim here. And I say that the Blood made its way onto that railing when she was pushed off the side after being shot. And in case you want to counter my explanation on how the Blood got there, then I suggest you read Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report once more. It clearly states she was pushed off a railing because of the bruise on her lower back!"

"It also said that the poor woman whose name we're now in limbo on was non-fatally shot in the chest. Do you mind explaining how her stumbling backwards with a wound on her front would end up producing Blood on the railing?"

"I believe you already answered the question for us after reminding us of _Ms. Pryce's_ Autopsy Report," the two tailed fox responded with his arms crossed while emphasizing the victim's proven true name. "You already told us that the bullet that shot her was non-fatal. And while the report does say that she most likely fainted soon after the shot, there's nothing on it going against the fact that she might have still been conscious after the fact. She quite possibly could've put her hand over her wound before being knocked over the railing. And as she was falling over, she tried to wrap her bloody hand around it but failed and thus died by drowning. Being that there was no blood found on her hand is to be expected since the water washed it away, so I have no evidence that this is the truth. However, that also goes to say that you don't have any evidence to say that it _isn't_ the truth!"

"My, aren't we being a bit quick to shoot down a statement that hasn't even been made yet?" Mephiles retorted with ever the slightest hints of amusement in his words. It was almost as if he were taking some kind of sick pleasure in all this. "I suppose then that we're in a stalemate of sorts in this regard. However, let us assume for the moment that your hypothesis on how the Blood got there is correct. What evidence do you have that suggests she was shot at the lighthouse in the first place that would then cause said bloodstain to appear there? If you can somehow prove that fact, then the Blood would automatically follow suit. I feel, however, that this shall prove to be your undoing."

"Then how about I go ahead and prove you wrong on that accord, as well?" the cobalt hedgehog countered as it was now his turn to prove another point brought up by the prosecution. "I can prove to everybody in this court beyond a doubt that Ms. Pryce was indeed shot on that lighthouse balcony. And it's with this claim that I also prove that was how the Blood got onto the railing and thus becoming the true murder scene that has since eluded us from the very beginning of this trial!"

"Your attempt at poetic speeches will get you nowhere," the prosecutor quickly shot down with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "Just hurry up and get to your point!"

"With pleasure, Prosecutor Mephiles. You see, we managed to find something else on that balcony besides the Blood. Long story short, it was a Bullet Casing with ballistic markings on the inside matching that of the bullet found inside Ms. Pryce's chest. The very fact that the casing was found within the lighthouse property strongly suggests that the balcony was the true murder scene as it had been captured beautifully by a Photograph by yesterday's witness, Ms. Amy Rose. I find this evidence quite hard to refute unless you want to claim next that somebody came into the lighthouse later and simply planted it there for convenience sake. To go about trying to frame a man with the mind of a seven-year-old hardly seems like a proper course of action for one to take."

"Yet there's nothing saying that it didn't go that way, as well," the Judge spoke up after being relatively quiet for a while. "While it would serve no purpose in trying to frame a man who has no chance of being pinned as a murderer, it would still serve to buy the true culprit some much needed time in order to either escape of adequately cover their tracks."

"…Your Honor does have a point there," Tails admitted with a small sigh before trying to quickly come up with something that would keep their hard-earned offensive going strong. "However, what if we all have been deceived even more than we had initially thought?"

"With you going at it like that, I wouldn't be surprised if we all have been deceived since the very beginning," Mephiles bit back nastily.

"Believe it or not, that's what I was going to suggest next," the two tailed fox simply responded in a calm tone as the prosecutor could only look in stoic surprise at the answer. "If you think about it, this entire case started simply because of a lie. And it has been from that lie that we were led even further down the path of truth until we as the defense made the suggestion that the lighthouse was the true scene of the murder. It's from there that this very complex web of deceit began to become unwound."

"And do you mind explaining to the court the process that this unwinding took place?" the old man asked in the old hedgehog's stead seeing as how said person seemed a bit beside himself as to how cocky the defense was acting. "I have this strange feeling that it'll end up leading to the point you're trying to get across."

"Well, this complex lie started to dissolve when Sonic and I discovered a scene looking a lot like a murder taking place in the background of this Photograph taken by witness Amy Rose. From there, we started to suspect the lighthouse shown as a murder scene. After investigating the building, we discovered evidence that strongly indicated that the Mobius Docks was in fact a staged crime scene. And during the course of this faux cross-examination that the prosecution had insisted on conducting, we've presented most of the evidence and provided adequate explanations to their questions. Of course, I must extend my thanks to Charmy Bee here for having investigated the scene when he did since the defense would not have gotten this far without the evidence he discovered during his contract job."

"Aww, it was seriously nothing!" Charmy stated as a small blush began to appear on his cheeks while still hovering over the podium like he had been since he started his testimony. "It really was just luck that I saw the stuff that pertained to your case. I seriously wasn't paying attention to anything outside the scope of the Chaotix Detective Agency's contract."

"Nevertheless, you did end up being a great help to us. And now I'll get to the prosecution's admittedly sarcastic yet still sound claim that we've been deceived from the very beginning. With what has been proven now, we seem to have automatically jumped to the conclusion that Ms. Pryce's killer is trying to frame Mr. Pryce for the crime. However, I suggest that what we're thinking can't be any further from the truth."

"Wait a minute!" the hyper bee suddenly exclaimed as he seemed to now understand what Tails was now getting at. "If I'm thinking what I think you're thinking of saying, then that's really going to be a head-turner for this case."

"…Oh, boy," Sonic then said as he turned towards his brother and stared at him wide-eyed. "It's not that I'm against you going along with that thought, but even that's crazy in my standards. How're you going to make that idea stick?"

"With this!" the two tailed fox explained without hesitation as he pulled out the Letter that Silver had found when he went to search the lighthouse basement. "I have here a Letter that was found in the basement of the lighthouse that Mr. Pryce resides in."

"I hardly find the witness's mail to be of much interest or help in the current case of things," Mephiles quickly interrupted as if confident that the defense's current line of thought was completely pointless. "I'm sure you already know that I'm objecting to this painfully obvious waste of time."

"And I'm afraid that I'll have to object to your objection," the fox countered as he crossed his arms in a defiant fashion and placing the Letter on the overhead monitor for everybody to see. "I'm pretty sure you'll understand why I'm quite adamant about this certain piece of mail being very important to our case. After all, the contents are somewhat disturbing, to say the least."

"…My, this Letter does sound rather interesting in nature!" the Judge admitted as he seemed to reread the entire thing again. "The person who authored this speaks to Mr. Pryce as if he were involved in something unimaginable."

"And what I want to draw special attention to everybody are these two sentences. '_After all, it would be unfortunate to lose such a wonderful asset to our operations such as you. That and I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss such a 'killer' performance on the docks that's to take place in the early morning after the eve of our visit._'

"Why would something like this be sent to Mr. Pryce's house?" Tails continued on after he finished reading what he felt were the key points of attention from the document. "It strongly suggests that he's not only something possibly illegal; it also seems to indicate that he knew full well what was going to happen on the morning of the murder. It's with this Letter that the defense claims that Mr. Pryce isn't the mentally unstable man we believe him to be. Instead, he is a very capable man with a very capable brain for his age and is merely putting up a farce of having mental disabilities!"

"And how do you intend to prove that this was actually meant for Mr. Pryce himself?" the old prosecutor asked as he did not fail to miss a beat in the progression of the case. "The last I heard, we've all come to the conclusion that there were most likely two people in that lighthouse at all times. That, of course, would be the good Mr. Pryce himself along with his female caretaker whom we currently know nothing about. How can you say for sure that this was meant for him rather than his caretaker? She had just as much free access to that building just like Mr. Pryce."

"Normally, I would agree with you on that note in that it's impossible to pinpoint who the Letter was addressed to. That's made even more apparent when the envelope it came in has a completely blank exterior. However, there is one other thing that stands out about this, and it isn't what's written on the paper."

"But what else could be more interesting than the written contents?" the old Judge asked as he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I don't see anything on here that even remotely points to the witness as the intended recipient of this."

"I believe my partner here is talking about the fingerprints that were found all over the Letter itself," Sonic spoke up in order to take Tails's place after noticing that his little brother was starting to lose a bit of his momentum from having to explain so much at one time. "Upon our request, we asked Detective Knuckles to have this sent to the forensics department. While we cannot perform a handwriting analysis without somebody of reasonable suspicion to compare it to, we did notice that there were only one set of fingerprints to be found anywhere on the Letter. Needless to say, they all belonged to one Mr. Maxwell Pryce! So now I ask the prosecution this question: Do you still believe that this Letter was intended for the witness's caretaker when only the man's fingerprints can be found on it? I find it rather hard if not impossible to prove the impossibility of who this was directed to.

"Now allow me to recap everything that we've learned thus far before I come to my main conclusion," the cobalt hedgehog continued on as he finally felt he had everything he needed to make the very statement that could potentially turn this case around for him. "First of all, we discovered that Prosecutor Flora Mae was in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Mr. Maxwell Pryce's sister who was believed to have been an unfortunate victim of the LK-9 Incident. This revelation in conjunction with her Fingerprints on a recent-looking cup of tea shoved towards the back of a cabinet and later discovered by Charmy Bee here strongly indicates that she visited her brother sometime recently before her murder.

"Secondly, I believe that Ms. Pryce was killed in that lighthouse on the balcony instead of at the Mobius Docks like we have been led to believe. This claim is strongly supported by both the spot of Blood on the balcony railing and a Bullet Casing with ballistic markings matching that of the bullet extracted from the victim as proof. The only thing that seems to cast a shadow of doubt on this is the fact that the Pistol that killed her was found on the docks rather than at the lighthouse. However, it's because of the Bullet Casing that we have strong reason to believe the murder weapon was not only moved but also swapped with a Fake Murder Weapon that was seen by yesterday's witness, Mr. Amy Rose, when she saw the aftermath of the 'murder' at the docks. And we believe this Fake Murder Weapon to be the fake gun that Charmy found inside a clock in the lighthouse that just so happens to have Shadow's fingerprints on it. We already know that my client never entered that lighthouse before, so there's no reason his fingerprints should be on that fake gun unless it was originally at the docks posing as a real murder weapon before being swiftly and unknowingly swapped out. That's my evidence proving that our victim was most likely murdered in the lighthouse.

"And finally, I come to my claim as to who really killed Ms. Lois Pryce. Through Mr. Pryce's own testimony along with the Doctor Reports we found in his home, it is proven that he suffers from a psychological disorder that stemmed from the 'death' of his sister and caused him to become just a simple seven-year-old child. However, I find this conclusion to be the actual truth of the matter because of this Letter found in the witness's basement. While it is proven that he most likely lives with a caretaker as through the fact that a complicated document like the Doctor Reports were mailed to his house, it's highly improbable that the Letter was addressed to her. The fact that only Mr. Pryce's fingerprints could be lifted from it supplements my claim. The details of the Letter also seem to indicate that the man is more than capable to think for himself and have a competent thought process for a man of his legal age as well as somehow being connected with this murder. And it is with these words that I feel more than confident in saying this: Mr. Maxwell Pryce, the man whom we all assumed at first to have been mentally unstable, is in fact mentally competent and was the one to have murdered Ms. Lois Pryce and thus committed sororicide, otherwise known as the murder of one's own sister!"

"…And this is what you're going to stick with no matter what?" Mephiles asked with an unreadable look on his face as the entire courtroom went in an uproar upon hearing this unexpected indictment made by the defense. "I'm sure you understand how _interesting_ your claim sounds like."

"What do you think?" Sonic asked back with a look on his face that said he was more than sure with what he was saying. "According to all the evidence I have received and reviewed, this is the only plausible explanation as to what happened in this case. It's all just too strong in one direction for me to say otherwise."

_**End Faux Cross-Examination**_

"Order in the court!" the Judge shouted over the noise of the gallery while pounding on his gavel in an attempt to regain control. He then said in an even louder shout, "ORDER IN THE COURT!"

"Well, I must commend in you in having caused quite a commotion," Mephiles simply said in a tone just barely hearable above the noise. "If this was merely your attempt at stalling for more time, then I believe you've more than accomplished that."

"You'd have to be a complete idiot to not see how everything I've proven from your attempt at a fake cross-examination!" Sonic exclaimed as he could clearly tell the noise was not going to die down anytime soon. "I doubt that the gallery would be this worked up if I had indicted Mr. Pryce as the murderer before Charmy came here. The fact that they're now out of control should be proof enough that my claim has some amount of merit to it!"

"Still, I find it hard to believe that such a competent man like the Judge would actually go along with your desperate attempt at keeping this case going," the old prosecutor continued on with his smug attitude not seeming to die anytime soon. "I wouldn't be surprised if you got kicked out of this courtroom along with your case once this storm has settled down."

"I don't believe I have much choice in the matter," the old man exclaimed in a frustrated tone as his gavel fell on deaf ears. "Because this uproar can't be quelled, I'm forced to call a suspension to this trial until tomorrow. But before I do that, I declare that Mr. Maxwell Pryce be kept under constant watch by one of the senior detectives at the Precinct until court tomorrow. I believe that the defense has a point with his claim, and I would like to hear what he has to say for himself. And I warn both sides that tomorrow will be the last day I will be suspending this trial. Court is now suspended!"

And with an official bang of his gavel that just simply fell on deaf ears once more, the Judge got up from his seat and quickly retreated back to his chambers in order to escape the uproar. The gallery failed to notice that court was now over and continued to talk loudly amongst themselves. Sonic and Tails were amazed that they managed to not only stall for time but also manage to get the Judge on their side at the same time. Mephiles seemed slightly shocked at the sudden turn of events that now went against him and was now glaring daggers at the two from across the room. Apart from the gallery, everybody was too shocked to do much of anything and could now only wait until tomorrow, a day that the Judge announced to be the last day for the case, to find out the true answer as to what happened in this case.

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><p>I hope that you all liked this new chapter that I made for you. The reason that I decided to make the last cross-examination the way it was was because I did not want to make it seem like it was all just a bunch of talking that did not hold any kind of background meaning into it. It was also a way to show off how Mephilies was feeling cocky about the whole thing in that he felt very confident that he was going to win the case no matter how he decided to beat down Sonic and Tails. And just as a little side note, the word "faux" stands for fake.<p>

I really have to admit that the last cross-examination was what really took the most time to get right. I had to find a way for Sonic and Tails to adequately prove how Ms. Mae, or now Ms. Lois Pryce as I have somehow managed to prove here, was killed at the lighthouse and then killed by someone else. You honestly have no idea what kind of details I had to take into consideration from the past in order to make it all make sense in some convoluted fashion. I wouldn't be surprised if I managed to dig myself into a grave here, but Phoenix Wright always managed to unknowingly do that all the time and still get out of it somewhat unscathed.

And yes, I am going to make this connected with the LK-9 Incident in case you all haven't noticed the constant connections I'm making to that case. I still have no idea how I'm going to be introducing it to you all, but I do have a basic understanding of how the case started. In case you all forgotten, the case came to be when someone from both Sonic and Shadow's side of the family was killed. That's all I'll say until I introduce the case to you.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

And just as a little side note, I'm thinking of reviving one of my abandoned stories. It's called "The Curse of Destati Communion Elementary". It needs to brushed up on being that it was written in a time when I consider my writing to be just above sub-par. And yes, I'm pretty harsh on my own writing sometimes that I consider myself my worst critic. But yeah, that's just a little heads-up for those of you who might be interested in it. And being that it's a horror story, I'm going to be rating it M for some rather descriptive portions that are normally not meant to be very descriptive except for horror purposes.

With that now out of the way, see you all on my next story update!

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Bullet Casing: A casing found on the lighthouse balcony and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The ballistic markings on it matched exactly with the bullet that was extracted from Ms. Mae. It also proves that the gun found on the docks was actually used and moved from the lighthouse.

Doctor Reports: Paperwork found in the lighthouse living room and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. They prove that Mr. Pryce visits the doctor every week for his condition. They also seem to indicate that he lives with a caretaker because of the fact that such complicated reports were sent to his house.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some prior knowledge of the fake murder taking place on the Mobius Docks. While a handwriting analysis could not be done on the contents because of the lack of a reasonably suspicious person to compare it to, Mr. Pryce's fingerprints were found all over it.

Firecracker: The Red Paper found stuck on the side of the Mobius Docks and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. Tests prove that it was once a Firecracker before it had exploded, and the black mark on it was from the explosion. The tape that is still on it has some burned fibers that belonged to a rope.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

Fingerprints: Prints found in the lighthouse by Charmy Bee. They were on a cup shoved all the way towards the back of a kitchen cupboard as if in a haste with a cup of tea still in it. This proves that it was used recently. They belong to the victim in the case, Ms. Flora Mae, but Vector recognized the prints from the LK-9 Incident and realized they actually belonged to Ms. Lois Pryce. This proves that these two people are actually one.

**Updated Evidence:**

Blood: Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing with the forensics report brought by Knuckles. It shows that the blood belonged to Ms. Mae and proving that she was at the lighthouse the moment she was murdered.

Fake Murder Weapon: An idea conjured up by Tails while exploring the lighthouse. After hearing Charmy's testimony, the thought of a fake weapon being in play is now a reality. A fake gun was found by the bee inside a clock and bears Shadow's fingerprints. Being that Shadow never entered the lighthouse before, this is proof that this was the gun seen at the docks the moment after the 'murder' witnessed by Amy Rose.

**Updated Profiles:**

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who seems to have a mental problem and trapped with a seven-year-old mind. Through excellent execution of evidence, Sonic and Tails have thrown doubt on the thought that he is actually mentally challenged and is just as capable as any other man his age.

Flora Mae: The victim in this case who was a prosecutor at the local prosecutor's office. She was proven to have been at the lighthouse at the moment of her death. Because of her fingerprints found in the lighthouse, it has been proven that she is in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Max's sister who has been thought to have been killed in the LK-9 Incident.


	23. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 9

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. It took me a while to make this chapter because I was not overly sure as to how I wanted to progress with the upcoming events. To be perfectly honest, I'm still not entirely sure how I want to introduce the upcoming events to you all, but this chapter doesn't really go either way with what I have in mind. Therefore, I deem this chapter safe to be published without having accidentally dug myself into an already bigger hole.

Anyway, let me just go ahead and warn you all that the next few chapters will most definitely not be mainly concentrating on Shadow's current murder trial. In fact, it'll mainly be concentrating on what I've been teasing you all with occasional mentions here and there about it. And yes, I'm planning to tie in these two events together, so just bare with me on this. And besides, I felt it was time to let you all in on just exactly what happened during the LK-9 Incident. Now I'll let you get acquainted with the first part of it and give you all a better understanding as to why I titled this case as "An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth".

Please don't forget to leave me a review telling me how you thought I did with this chapter before you move onto the next thing that you want to read. Especially since I'm now introducing to you what I consider to be the main plot of this story, the meaning behind LK-9, your reviews will be helpful in seeing what if anything I've done wrong and how I can improve with the overall introduction of this case. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing with the forensics report brought by Knuckles. It shows that the blood belonged to Ms. Mae and proving that she was at the lighthouse the moment she was murdered.

Fake Murder Weapon: An idea conjured up by Tails while exploring the lighthouse. After hearing Charmy's testimony, the thought of a fake weapon being in play is now a reality. A fake gun was found by the bee inside a clock and bears Shadow's fingerprints. Being that Shadow never entered the lighthouse before, this is proof that this was the gun seen at the docks the moment after the 'murder' witnessed by Amy Rose.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

Bullet Casing: A casing found on the lighthouse balcony and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The ballistic markings on it matched exactly with the bullet that was extracted from Ms. Mae. It also proves that the gun found on the docks was actually used and moved from the lighthouse.

Doctor Reports: Paperwork found in the lighthouse living room and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. They prove that Mr. Pryce visits the doctor every week for his condition. They also seem to indicate that he lives with a caretaker because of the fact that such complicated reports were sent to his house.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some prior knowledge of the fake murder taking place on the Mobius Docks. While a handwriting analysis could not be done on the contents because of the lack of a reasonably suspicious person to compare it to, Mr. Pryce's fingerprints were found all over it.

Firecracker: The Red Paper found stuck on the side of the Mobius Docks and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. Tests prove that it was once a Firecracker before it had exploded, and the black mark on it was from the explosion. The tape that is still on it has some burned fibers that belonged to a rope.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

Fingerprints: Prints found in the lighthouse by Charmy Bee. They were on a cup shoved all the way towards the back of a kitchen cupboard as if in a haste with a cup of tea still in it. This proves that it was used recently. They belong to the victim in the case, Ms. Flora Mae, but Vector recognized the prints from the LK-9 Incident and realized they actually belonged to Ms. Lois Pryce. This proves that these two people are actually one.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern.

Flora Mae: The victim in this case who was a prosecutor at the local prosecutor's office. She was proven to have been at the lighthouse at the moment of her death. Because of her fingerprints found in the lighthouse, it has been proven that she is in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Max's sister who has been thought to have been killed in the LK-9 Incident.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who seems to have a mental problem and trapped with a seven-year-old mind. Through excellent execution of evidence, Sonic and Tails have thrown doubt on the thought that he is actually mentally challenged and is just as capable as any other man his age.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

Charmy Bee: a young eight-year-old bee who happens to be employed with the Chaotix Detective Agency. Apparently, he was sent to investigate the lighthouse by a third party who had employed the agency to do so. As such, he has arrived at the courthouse in order to testify about this matter at the very last minute.

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><p><strong>Ch<strong>**apter 23: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 9**

"Well, I can't exactly say that was the smoothest of defenses I've ever seen," Shadow said to Sonic from his side of the room in the detention center. It had been half an hour since the trial was suspended after the two dropped what was considered a bombshell to the entire court, and both parties felt it necessary to talk to each other immediately. "I must admit, however, that I was quite surprised at how you two managed to fend for yourselves pretty well at the end of the proceedings. You both might be just rookies in your own accord, but you both know how to help each other out and come up with a provable truth.

"I'm sure by now that Mephiles is feeling more than just a bit worried about you two now that he's forced to go into the final day of proceedings," he continued on without showing any signs of stopping. He might not have been one to showcase his emotions very often, but the fact that he went on one of his rare rants meant he was truly appreciative of Sonic and Tails's tenacity at keeping him out of trouble. "Never in his career has he ever had to use all three days in order to get his coveted guilty verdict. I have a feeling that he'll be almost out of ammo for his attack since he seemed to have been struggling somewhat today, but I wouldn't put it past him to come up with something damning even in the face of defeat."

"Wow, thanks for the ever so wonderful pep talk, Shadow," Sonic said sarcastically after hearing the last part of the ebon hedgehog's rant. "That really makes me feel a whole lot more confident in taking down that crazy old man tomorrow."

"I'm just stating the truth," the prosecutor simply responded back with a shrug of his shoulders. "If you want to avoid any kind of unpleasant surprises from the other end of the courtroom, I suggest that you spend all of today getting as much evidence as you could possibly get your hands on. And speaking of which, shouldn't you be outside investigating wherever it is you find suspicious rather than wasting your time talking to me?"

"Before we do that, we have a couple of questions that we've been meaning to ask you since after the court's recess," Tails quickly spoke up before they were unwillingly chased out by their client. "If anything, it's important to us if you can answer them. You don't mind us 'wasting' our time with this, do you?"

"Well, I suppose it depends on what it is you want to ask me. I highly doubt that they aren't anywhere near important to you being that you really don't have a lot of time to be asking silly questions. It's already four in the afternoon."

"Then why don't we start with one that I'm sure is nowhere near being silly?" the two tailed fox asked as he seemed to have already had a question in mind. "During court today, we established that there were two guns in play, one of them being the Pistol used to kill Ms. Lois Pryce and the other the Fake Murder Weapon. The fake was found in the lighthouse courtesy of Charmy hidden within a clock with a removable face. Except for the obvious from when we were kidnapped and brought to the lighthouse five years ago, was there ever a time you were in that place?"

"Do you really have to ask something like that?" Shadow deadpanned before rolling his eyes at the question. "I may act like a tough guy most of the time, but I harbor dark shadows of my past just like you and Sonic. I doubt that either of you were willing to be in that place when you went looking for evidence."

"In terms of Shadow's language, I'm pretty sure that means no," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a small snicker at the pun that was just made. He then continued on after calming down, "But then how do you explain the fact that your fingerprints were on both sets of guns? I'm sure that crazy old prosecutor is going to try and jump on that tomorrow as his source of a conviction."

"To be perfectly honest, I don't know," the ebon furred hedgehog said as he carefully considered the question. "The only time I ever touched an actual gun was five years ago during the kidnapping incident involving all of us. However, I highly doubt that this is the same gun in this case since that one is right now in the Precinct's evidence room."

"But your prints couldn't have just magically appeared on the real murder weapon," the defense attorney responded as his lips gave a small frown at the situation. "Are you sure that there was no other time that you had your bare hands on a gun except for the LK-9 Incident? Did you ever go to a gun store or anything like that?"

"Do you know how ridiculous your proposition is starting to sound, Sonic? You may consider my overall attitude to be a little rougher than other people, but I would never go so far as to actually purchase a gun for any purpose. You of all people should already know that much about me. And even if I were to have gone to a gun store and actually laid my hands on one, someone would have to have stalked me to know exactly which gun I touched. I promise you that I would've noticed anybody following me around all day, especially when inside a store that's relatively small like a gun shop."

"Yeah, I suppose you would," Tails admitted with a nod of his head in agreement. "Unless you were somehow really distracted like you were when you picked up the Fake Murder Weapon on the docks, you're usually on top of everything. I guess we're just going to have to figure out the answer to this the hard way, although I can't see how we'll be able to do it if we literally have nothing to go on with this.

"In the meantime, let me ask you something else," he continued on without any hesitation. "I'm sure you've already noticed this, but don't you find it odd that at almost every single turn we manage to figure out some kind of connection to the LK-9 Incident? I find it pretty hard to pass this off as just a simple coincidence."

"It's almost as if all of these connections are being intentionally set out for us," Sonic admitted with a nod of his head. "The first thing that we noticed was the lighthouse itself. If Silver hadn't brought it up while we were investigating the place, I really wouldn't have noticed it. Tails, Knuckles, and I must've tried so hard to forget all this time about that day that we didn't immediately make the connection. It's pretty strange how we were all brought back to the very place that brought us to where we are now."

"And then there was Mr. Maxwell Pryce who was at the least indirectly involved with the Incident being that it was his lighthouse that was used as the kidnappers' hideout," the two tailed fox replied. "But what really made him directly involved was the death of his sister, Ms. Lois Pryce, which caused him to have the mindset of a child. However, it already seems quite improbable that he does in fact have this supposed mental illness since there was a Letter that was most likely meant for him."

"But then you proved today in court that this was most likely not the case," Shadow reminded them. "You managed to prove that the victim in this case, Ms. Flora Mae, and the victim of the LK-9 Incident were in fact the same person. If anything, this raises the question as to why she was considered legally dead when she was in fact very much alive. And since you made it seem more reasonable than not that she was caring for her supposedly mentally ill brother, I find it hard to believe that she's not connected to that case five years ago. If her dear brother is involved as you have just suggested in court through a Letter most likely addressed to him, then so is she by the very fact she's under the same roof as him. With all these convenient coincidences in play, I find it hard to believe that there _isn't_ any kind of connection between the two cases, especially with Mephiles as the prosecution for the current case."

"What do you mean by that, Shadow?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with his eyebrows raised at the last statement as his little brother performed the same action. "What does that crazy old man have to do with the incident from five years ago?"

"Did you ever read the file on the case that led up to the events of the LK-9 Incident?" the ebon furred hedgehog asked with slight disbelief in his tone. "I'd have thought you'd at least done that once you got your Attorney's Badge. You were pretty fired up in wanting to solve that case before I decided to leave Mobius for a change of scenery."

"Well, excuse me for actually being busy doing my job and trying to protect all my friends from accusations for murders they never committed," the attorney replied sarcastically while rolling his eyes. "My original plan after obtaining my badge was to look over the case file and see if I can do anything about it, but in between Tails and Knuckles' trials along with me being framed by Espio for murder; I hardly had any time to do that! And now that I have your case to contend to while avoiding being killed in the courtroom by a crazy prosecutor, reading that case file is the last thing on my mind now."

"…I suppose that's as good an excuse as any when it's coming from you," the prosecutor admitted somewhat reluctantly with a shrug of his shoulders. "You really should get to that sometime tonight if and when you get a chance. At least you weren't being lazy about trying to get to the report this time around."

"Watch it, Shadow. You might want to be careful with what you say around me. Don't forget that I'm voluntarily taking your case. I can just as easily volunteer myself out of it if and when I want to."

"As if you would even consider ditching one of your best friends and let them fend against all accusations by themselves, Sonic. Even when you're angry, it's hardly in your nature to abandon a friend in need. Now that I think about it, it's because of that kind of attitude that you usually found yourself in trouble in high school."

"But what's stopping me from saying that I might've changed a bit from the last time we really had a chance to hang out together? You don't know whether or not I've stopped sticking my nose into other people's business. It's not like you to be so quick to jump the gun there, pun not intended."

"If you really did stop sticking your nose in other people's troubles, then why were you so eager to be my defense attorney when you figured out I was in here?"

"Guys, can we please get back on topic here?" Tails quickly butted in. If he knew the two hedgehogs as well as he thought he did, he knew that this could quickly lead to a heated argument if left unchecked. "Now really isn't the time to be arguing over something like this. And besides, I think I found another connection to the LK-9 Incident here. However, it doesn't solely revolve around this case."

"What do you mean, Tails?" Sonic asked as he quickly changed from his argumentative attitude to an inquisitive one while turning his full attention to his little brother. "How can there be another connection to that incident if it doesn't have anything to do with this case? We really can't afford to get sidetracked any more than we are right now."

"Actually, it involves all of the cases that you've worked on thus far including this one," the two tailed fox replied as he tried to find a way to easily explain what was on his mind. "Like Sonic just said, all of us had been framed for murder at one point. And if you think of us all in terms of the incident, we're all connected to it whether we like it or not. In fact, we're probably the best witnesses for that case should it ever be brought up later today or tomorrow on the final day it can be brought to trial."

"Are you suggesting that one of the people who kidnapped us is trying to get us put in jail forever so that our story about what we remembered then can't be told anymore?" Shadow asked with raised eyebrows as he suddenly realized where the other was going with his logic. "When you put it like that, I suppose it seems more than likely that we're all being targeted simply because we were unfortunate enough to have been kidnapping victims. But if that's true, then that would mean that everybody you've convicted of murder were either one of the kidnappers or simply acting on command from one of them!"

"Uh, you kind of lost me here guys," the cobalt hedgehog spoke up sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I honestly have no idea what you're going with all this. Think you can bring me up to speed?"

"…You're not serious, are you?" the ebon furred hedgehog deadpanned as he glared daggers at the other hedgehog. "I'm not always going to be around to get you up to speed with things, so you better start paying more attention. Do you remember all the people that you convicted for murdering the victims in their respective cases? What Tails and I are getting at here is that those convicted suspects might actually be people involved in or in league with those with ties to the LK-9 Incident!"

"What?_!_ Are you telling me that I've been unknowingly and indirectly working on the LK-9 Incident this entire time? I mean, that does explain why all of us ended up being framed for murder at one point or another, but that's just crazy! Did they all literally kill three people just so we could be put away for murder? How desperate can a guy get just to ensure that they'll never be caught?"

"Apparently, this man is very desperate. And I can see why they didn't just go and kill us all off. They were probably afraid that some smart detective like Silver would figure out the connection should we all be killed off like that. Then again, I can hardly blame them being that the main reason for that incident ever having taken place could be considered a lot worse than just killing off three people."

"What could be worse than having others kill three people in your stead?" Tails asked with clear disbelief in his tone as his eyes widened in surprise. "There can't be anything worse than that, Shadow."

"I guess it kind of depends on your definition of worse. Do you remember a senior detective called Ace Sleuth who you helped get convicted of murdering his fiancée? The guy who tried to frame Knuckles for the murder?"

"He's kind of a hard guy to forget about," Sonic responded after he managed to somewhat regain his composure. "I mean, you did kind of run out of the courtroom with him in tow right after the case was over. Now that we're on that subject, do you mind telling us what that was all about?"

"I really don't know if this has anything to do with my murder trial," Shadow responded with some hesitancy. "We've been talking for half an hour already. Do you really want to know the details about this?"

"If it has something to do with LK-9, then yes," the cobalt hedgehog answered. "As we've said, it's most likely that Maxwell Pryce is involved with that case, so we might be able to get some rather damaging information to use against him. That and I really want to know why we had to be the ones who were kidnapped."

"…Alright, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to at least give you the cliff-notes of what I've learned," the ebon furred hedgehog admitted before letting out a small sigh. "I really doubt that it'll help you out with this case, though.

"Let me start off by saying that Ace Sleuth is right now under house arrest at a secure location known only by both me and Vector," he started off. "When I had dragged him out of the courtroom, I immediately brought him to Vector's office. It was there that he agreed to be our witness if and when LK-9 ever came around to being taken to court. It wasn't easy to get him to do that, but we managed to agree to a lifetime of constant surveillance while in house arrest instead of being in prison on death row."

"Wow, sounds like he's gotten a pretty good trade-off considering all the trouble he's in," Tails replied with a low whistle escaping his lips. "Are you even sure that he knows anything about that time five years ago? It'd be a waste of time and legal muscle if he just ends up being an informational dud."

"Remember how he said something about the life of both him and his family was in danger should he have announced his true motive to murder his fiancée? I find it hard to believe for a man like him to just spontaneously decide to kill her over the fact that she called every single suspicious phone number in his cell. And when he said that they were in fact other numbers that he was too afraid to say who they belonged to, I just had a hunch. It turned out my hunch was right and those numbers were somehow involved with LK-9."

"Well, did you manage to get anything off of those numbers?" Sonic asked as he seemed too hopeful for a break in the two-year-old case. "If so, then that'll definitely get us one step closer to solving that incident."

"Surprisingly enough, I got nothing from them," the prosecutor replied with a disappointed shake of his head. "I had all those numbers inspected the moment Ace had been convicted of murder. It wasn't even four hours later that all of the numbers were mysteriously disconnected with their cell phone waves all leading to the city dump. The only way for such a fast and organized disposal of cell phones could happen like that even with the only person who theoretically called all of them is for someone who was watching the trial unfold act as a messenger for the others."

"So you're thinking that it might've been somebody from the gallery watching who tipped every number on that phone about a potential leak on their operations?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with raised eyebrows as he was trying hard to keep up with all the information. "That would mean the LK-9 guys were keeping tabs on the case the entire time."

"No, it was too fast for a person in the gallery to have been the tipster. I'm sure they were keeping tabs on the case, but it had to have been somebody who's not a member of the general public. In order to prevent details from the trial leaking out to the press prematurely, every gallery member is required to relinquish their cell phones upon entering the courthouse. And even if a cell phone were somehow smuggled into the building, there is a signal jammer that's in place for all phones that aren't registered to either an attorney like you and me or those who work in the building like a judge or bailiff."

"Wait a minute; how did Charmy manage to get cell reception during the trial today if he isn't an attorney or a courthouse worker?" the two tailed fox quickly spoke up as he became slightly confused. "The only reason he was able to give us details about the evidence he found at the lighthouse was because Vector texted him the forensics results."

"My guess there is that Vector probably managed to get his phone registered under the guise that he had two cell phones. Either way, that's not the point I'm trying to get at. What I'm trying to say here is that the only person who could've tipped off all the numbers on Ace's phone has to be someone whose line of work constantly revolves around the courthouse and thus have a cell phone registered with the building."

"Whoa, you're not saying that someone who's supposed to be working for the law is actually conducting illegal activity, are you?" the defense attorney questioned with a look of disbelief on his face. "Do you know how crazy that idea sounds? I mean, I know that Ace was a detective and all that, but he was coerced into killing. I doubt that the person you say tipped his contacts off is also riding on the same boat."

"Believe me when I say that I tried to come up with other possibilities as to how all those cell phones just ended up at the city dump. None of them even come close to being a possible truth with or without evidence. So now the only lead we literally have to go on now is the testimony of Ace Sleuth, but he claims to not know much being that he was pretty low on the chain of command and was considered an expendable."

"And what exactly is it that he said to you?" Tails asked as his older brother was still busy recovering from his earlier outburst.

"Sorry, but Vector was the one who ultimately interrogated him," Shadow admitted as his face suddenly changed as if he remembered something. "…However, Espio was helping with the interrogation, so I doubt whatever he had said then was anywhere near helpful. We didn't know at the time that the chameleon was actually in league with those responsible for causing the LK-9 Incident to exist. If he was where Ace could see him during the entire interrogation, then I doubt the former senior detective would dare say anything truthful if anything at all in fear of retaliation against his family."

"In other words, we're going to have to question him again now that Espio is out of the picture," the two tailed fox quickly suggested. "Now that all the people who has any ties to those responsible for LK-9, he shouldn't have to fear telling the truth now. We just need to make sure that Vector is the only one to listen to what he has to say."

"Boy, does that sound very promising for us," Sonic sarcastically responded as he stole a quick glance at a nearby clock hanging on the wall. "Guess we'll have to ask that crocodile a huge favor soon. After all, we're going to need to hear what he has to say if we're planning on bringing the incident to trial tomorrow. By the way, you never really did say who you believed to have been the one who was keeping tabs on the trial involving me and Ace."

"First, let me say that it's highly unlikely the incident will see the light of day in court tomorrow," the ebon furred hedgehog replied doubt clear in his voice. "And even if it did, I doubt one day is enough to adequately resolve everything beyond reasonable doubt. It's just a hopeless pipe dream now. Secondly, the search for the one responsible in sabotaging whatever worth there was in Ace's cell phone ended up like trying to find a needle in a haystack. In designated parts of the courthouse, there is a rather large lounge area where fellow attorneys can sit and watch televised court proceedings taking place. And yes Sonic, your actions in court that day were carefully being scrutinized by your fellow peers.

"Anyway, what I'm getting at here is that this particular case was being watched by most of the attorneys who happened to have been in the lounge that day," he continued on while disregarding the look of shock on the other hedgehog's face. "That's not surprising since I'm sure word spread pretty quickly of a rookie attorney actually indicting a well-trusted detective of murder. That means that whoever was watching also heard my outburst at the end of the proceedings. If my hunch is correct, then somebody called the numbers that were on Ace's phone right after I requested him to be placed in protective custody. Unfortunately, that person also abandoned his cell phone since it was traced from the courthouse going straight to the dump, but I can at least try to narrow down the possible suspects on who tipped those people off and is thus one of the people involved with LK-9!"

"And did you at least manage to get somewhere with that line of logic?" the cobalt hedgehog asked as he was getting tired of hearing all of Shadow's leads were nothing but dead ends. "You won't know how angry I'm going to be if I hear that you got into another informational road block."

"Unfortunately, most of the attorneys I talked to said that they were nowhere near the courthouse on that particular day," the prosecutor admitted with a small sigh while seemingly undeterred by the harsh glare he was receiving from the other. "Apparently, it was an unusually slow day in terms of how many court proceedings were taking place at the courthouse. I was still in the process of asking other attorneys before I ended up getting caught up in this mess, and so I have yet to finish asking every attorney that I know of."

"So you can't say for sure that it's a complete dead end," Tails quickly said before his older brother had a chance to become aggravated again. "We'll just go ahead and pick up where you left off once we're done here. How's that sound, Shadow?"

"Normally, I'd say no and just tell you to concentrate on my case, but I have a feeling that you're going to just waste your entire evening pestering me to tell you where I left off. That and I'm sure the person I'll have you ask will be of some help to you in getting me acquitted of this crazy murder charge. It's Vector."

"Oh, then we can just go ahead and kill two birds with one stone here!" the defense attorney announced happily as his face gave off a smile as if he finally heard a piece of great news. "To be perfectly honest, we were already planning on visiting Vector for something else, so we can just ask him for you if he was at the courthouse that day. If he wasn't there that day, then I promise to stop wasting my time with anything that has to do with the LK-9 Incident and fully concentrate on your case.

"And speaking of Vector," the hedgehog continued on without pausing, "there's one more thing that I'd like to ask you that I was also planning on discussing with that crocodile. Right before our recess today ended, we mentioned the name Salemand Eres in front of you. By the way you reacted, it seems like you know something about this mysterious guy. Care to explain to us what you know about him, because he already strikes me as a pretty suspicious fellow after coming to my office being all secretive and asking to use Knuckles' cell phone just so he could call Vector."

"So that's how you two know of him," Shadow simply replied as if he were just hearing news that he already knew about. "Well, I really would like to tell you more about him, but we've already been talking for an hour. You can't waste any more time talking to me about anything if you hope to get any kind of last-minute investigation done. However, I promise you that Vector knows just as much about him as I do, so just tell him that I'm allowing you to get information on Salemand."

"And why do we need your permission just to get some information on this one guy?" Tails asked with raised eyebrows at this strange procedure that the ebon furred hedgehog was making them go through. "That seems a little bit extreme. Does the guy have a criminal background or something like that we should know about?"

"You'll see when you get there," the prosecutor simply said in a somewhat mysterious fashion before getting up from his chair and readying to leave. "You better hurry up and get to Vector's office while you can. It's already a bit past five and he tends to take his meal breaks at around six. It'll be hard to get a hold of him while he's eating, so best get to him before he eats. And if you are going to continue to pursue the LK-9 Incident, then you'll need his help on obtaining some key files regarding it."

"Obtaining key files?" Sonic repeated with a raised eyebrow before seeing his friend leave the visitor's center with a guard following closely behind. "Is he talking about the case summary or something like that?"

"Well, there's nothing else that would make that much sense," the two tailed fox said with a shrug of his shoulders as he turned around in order leave the Detention Center. "I suppose we need permission from someone at the Precinct in order to look over those files. Vector's definitely the best person to be asking for that."

"If I'm planning on trying to figure out the real answers to that case by tomorrow, then I'll definitely need to see what I can dig up from those case reports," the cobalt hedgehog suggested as he followed his little brother out of the room. "I know that Shadow's most likely right in saying that the case might not go to trial tomorrow, but I at least want to see if I can figure out what happened before everything that's related to the case gets sealed away because of the statute of limitations running out. I really doubt that I can find anything more to help me with Shadow's case, so I'll just concentrate with the LK-9 for now."

"Well, I'm sure that tomorrow's trial is going to mainly revolve around what Mr. Pryce has to say about him not being the murderer, so there really isn't much we can investigate on in terms of him," the other explained as he tried to recap on what their main objective was. "Everything that we have in terms of his medical records points to him mentally being a seven-year-old man with no recollection of the day the LK-9 Incident was born. But if we could somehow prove that he does have a connection with that case, then that will prove that he isn't mentally unstable and thus was more than capable of killing his sister!"

"We'll cross that bridge once we get to it," the attorney said as they both exited into the street and were greeted with a warm summer breeze. "For now, let's just concentrate on getting as much information as we can about that incident five years ago! And while we're at the Precinct, maybe we could ask Silver for more details since he once said he's been working a lot on that case. And who knows? Maybe we'll end up being lucky enough to have actually learned more than enough to merit the thought of having it go on trial tomorrow!"

Tails simply rolled his eyes at his brother's childish optimism just as they managed to hail a cab that would take them to the Precinct. Hopefully, they would be able to make it in time before Vector went on his meal break and then become very hard to find for god only knows how long.

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><p><strong>New Profile:<strong>

Ace Sleuth: A former senior detective from the local Precinct who is now behind bars for having murdered his fiancée. Since his conviction, Shadow has had the man living at an undisclosed location and under witness protection because of the potential importance he might have in solving the LK-9 Case.

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><p>To be perfectly honest with you, I had completely forgotten about Ace Sleuth until I started writing this chapter. When I had set it up during the end of Sonic's second case so that Shadow spontaneously requested him to be put on witness protection, this was the reason why I did that. It's because he felt that he was going to be an important witness for the LK-9 Incident. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case now that it's been realized that when Vector interrogated him, Espio was most likely in the room 'helping' with the procedure. With the case going to be officially closed by the end of tomorrow, just how useful is Ace's testimony going to be now, especially when the numbers that were on his phone and going to be served as crucial evidence suddenly literally leads to the dumps?<p>

I've just noticed something here. I have an unusual and unintentional knack of making things hard on myself whenever I write something that has to deal with heavy logic such as this story. Then again, that's practically what I've done to myself from the moment I started writing this story. If I could get myself out of those messes, then I'm sure I can get out of this. The only thing that makes this hard for me is that I honestly don't know what's going to happen next. Oh, there are certainly times when writing habits like that really make it hard for me to continue on in a suitable and sensible way.

Anyway, that's enough of my rants that I'm sure none of you are anywhere remotely near wanting to hear about. Before I leave you all alone, let me just say that there really is no new evidence to post up for this chapter. Then again, the current evidence list is already pretty long and hard to keep track of in terms of their overall importance. There's like fifteen pieces of evidence; that's almost exactly two full screens of evidence in a Phoenix Wright game! Then again, I was aiming on trying to make a lot of evidence so as to confuse those of you who are also playing along with the mystery rather than just reading it over on what can really make the case go along.

Don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful to me, especially when I'm admittedly trying something a bit new here as in trying to meld both the LK-9 Incident and the current case into one. And even if they are just mere words of encouragement, they are more than welcome and always help give me the motivation to bring this story to the ending that it deserves. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!


	24. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 10

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter that I've been working on for this whole week. I managed to get myself confused at some parts, but I got through them and made it all as understandable as I possibly could for you all. If there are any parts that are still confusing to you even after you've read through the whole chapter, feel free to leave me a review and I'll happily explain it to you all.

Also, I've made a small change to some of the past chapters. I promise you that it isn't anything big that would change the entire course of the story. For those of you who remember, I originally said that the LK-9 Incident took place two years ago. Feeling that it was nowhere near realistic for a case to only be two years old and already be so close to the end of the statute of limitations, I decided to change it a bit and say that it happened five years ago. In real life, five years is still not long enough to consider a murder investigation closed due to statute of limitations, but I don't care. This is my story, and this story's world says that the statute is going to end in five years which happens to be tomorrow for this story.

Anyway, that's enough of my ranting and all that. I hope that you all do enjoy this chapter as much as I had making it. Just like with the previous one, this chapter is solely going to be for the LK-9 Incident with maybe a couple tidbits concerning the current case here and there. I am planning on introducing the LK-9 Case to you all sometime in the future, but I felt it fair that you all have a bit of a better understanding of it before I just shoot you all into it. That and Sonic and Tails don't really have a good idea of what was going on with that case except for the moments that they were involved in.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful whether they are suggestions or just plain encouragement. That and I honestly do read them and see how well-received my stories are to you readers. Never a good idea to continue on with a story if the majority of readers just don't plain enjoy it, right? Anyway, until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing with the forensics report brought by Knuckles. It shows that the blood belonged to Ms. Mae and proving that she was at the lighthouse the moment she was murdered.

Fake Murder Weapon: An idea conjured up by Tails while exploring the lighthouse. After hearing Charmy's testimony, the thought of a fake weapon being in play is now a reality. A fake gun was found by the bee inside a clock and bears Shadow's fingerprints. Being that Shadow never entered the lighthouse before, this is proof that this was the gun seen at the docks the moment after the 'murder' witnessed by Amy Rose.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

Bullet Casing: A casing found on the lighthouse balcony and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The ballistic markings on it matched exactly with the bullet that was extracted from Ms. Mae. It also proves that the gun found on the docks was actually used and moved from the lighthouse.

Doctor Reports: Paperwork found in the lighthouse living room and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. They prove that Mr. Pryce visits the doctor every week for his condition. They also seem to indicate that he lives with a caretaker because of the fact that such complicated reports were sent to his house.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some prior knowledge of the fake murder taking place on the Mobius Docks. While a handwriting analysis could not be done on the contents because of the lack of a reasonably suspicious person to compare it to, Mr. Pryce's fingerprints were found all over it.

Firecracker: The Red Paper found stuck on the side of the Mobius Docks and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. Tests prove that it was once a Firecracker before it had exploded, and the black mark on it was from the explosion. The tape that is still on it has some burned fibers that belonged to a rope.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

Fingerprints: Prints found in the lighthouse by Charmy Bee. They were on a cup shoved all the way towards the back of a kitchen cupboard as if in a haste with a cup of tea still in it. This proves that it was used recently. They belong to the victim in the case, Ms. Flora Mae, but Vector recognized the prints from the LK-9 Incident and realized they actually belonged to Ms. Lois Pryce. This proves that these two people are actually one.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern two years ago.

Flora Mae: The victim in this case who was a prosecutor at the local prosecutor's office. She was proven to have been at the lighthouse at the moment of her death. Because of her fingerprints found in the lighthouse, it has been proven that she is in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Max's sister who has been thought to have been killed in the LK-9 Incident.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who seems to have a mental problem and trapped with a seven-year-old mind. Through excellent execution of evidence, Sonic and Tails have thrown doubt on the thought that he is actually mentally challenged and is just as capable as any other man his age.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

Charmy Bee: a young eight-year-old bee who happens to be employed with the Chaotix Detective Agency. Apparently, he was sent to investigate the lighthouse by a third party who had employed the agency to do so. As such, he has arrived at the courthouse in order to testify about this matter at the very last minute.

Ace Sleuth: A former senior detective from the local Precinct who is now behind bars for having murdered his fiancée. Since his conviction, Shadow has had the man living at an undisclosed location and under witness protection because of the potential importance he might have in solving the LK-9 Case.

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><p><strong>Chapter 24: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 10<strong>

"I hope Vector didn't spontaneously decided to take an early meal break today and make us come here for nothing," Sonic said as he and Tails entered the Precinct building, a place that he was honestly not hoping to come back to anytime soon. He had already paid the cab their fare and made sure neither of them left anything important behind. "According to Shadow, he should still be here for about another thirty minutes, but that's considering he's actually acting within his supposed preordained schedule."

"Between his current work and the job he's doing for the Chaotix Detective Agency, I'm pretty sure that dinner's the last thing on his mind right now," Tails said as made their way through the lobby and were mostly ignored by all they passed by. He was also not too happy at being back here but unlike his brother did his best to not show it. "I doubt that he's even sticking his nose in the LK-9 Incident like he said he's been doing with Silver this whole time what with his detective job most likely still one man short."

"Do you think he'd be willing to talk to us if he ends up being really busy?" the cobalt hedgehog asked just as they were about to reach the stairs that would take them to the floor where the crocodile's office was. Unfortunately, the Precinct had yet to fix the elevators since the time of the death of senatorial candidate Kuro Rose a few weeks ago, so the stairs was still the only way to travel between floors. "I'd really hate to put him behind work just so we could ask him some questions, especially when they don't really have anything to do with helping Shadow out with his murder case."

"If it makes you feel better, I don't particularly care what kind of questions you want to ask me," a familiarly deep voice spoke up from behind the two just as they were about to open the stairway doors. "I can always find time for you two."

"Vector!" the attorney exclaimed as he suddenly turned around and was face-to face with the aforementioned prosecutor's scaly green neck. He actually had to step off to the side a bit so he would have a better view of the other's face. "Geez, don't go sneaking up on us like that. Where the heck did you come from?"

"I actually just came back from the Precinct cafeteria," Vector explained while chuckling lightly at Sonic's startled reaction and backing up a bit so said hedgehog would have an easier time looking him in the eye. "I figured it'd be a good idea to get an early start at some dinner so I would have more time to look into some things I'm currently working on. Although, I think I was better off just skipping dinner altogether since the food they serve here seriously isn't all that great. I really don't know what some of my coworkers are thinking when they say that the crap they serve here is good. Last I checked, a terribly dry tuna sandwich and a supposed chicken soup without even a shred of chicken don't make a good dinner.

"However, I'm sure hearing me talk about my rather unappetizing dinner break was the reason why you came here," he continued on with a warm smile despite look of disgust from Sonic and an apologetic glance from Tails. "From what I've heard, it sounds like you two have something you want to ask me."

"Uh, is it okay if we asked you in your office rather than out here?" the two tailed fox asked as he quickly recovered from the slight startle. "What we want to ask you is kind of something we rather keep private."

"Ah, gotcha!" the crocodile said with an understanding nod of his head before walking past the two and holding open the stairway door. "Then let's not go wasting time standing around here. Go up to the fourth floor and into the first door on your right; that's where my office is. I need to make a quick stop by Silver's office and get something from there, so just go ahead and wait there for me."

"Alright, thanks for the head's-up," the young one said as he led the way up the stairs to the fourth floor. He then asked as a random thought, "Oh, how's everything going here ever since the murder of Ms. Kuro Rose was resolved? I can only imagine it's been anything but great for you guys."

"Well, it's a lot better than it was last week," the prosecutor replied with a small sigh as they reached the second floor. "Believe me when I say that this Precinct went through hell and back trying to clean up from both the lack of adequate security for such an important person and the fact that a murder actually happened inside this building. We were hardly in any shape to be handling any affairs outside of the building let alone inside."

"Yikes, sounds like it's been a pretty rough few weeks for you," Sonic spoke up once they reached the third floor. "And how have you been holding up ever since that incident? I'll bet that it's been extremely hard for you."

"We all have our difficult moments in life; what's really important is how we choose to move on from it. I don't think about it and just concentrate on what I can do; although I must admit there are times when I wonder how it was that I failed to see Espio's true colors until that day. I guess he really did earn his self-proclaimed title as a Ninja.

"Anyway, here we are at the fourth floor," Vector quickly said once they reached the designated floor while he slowly continued on up to the next floor. "Remember, my office is the first door on your right once you go in. Just wait in there patiently, and don't even think about answering the phone or anything like that. You'll get me in trouble if that happens. Just give me a few minutes with Silver and I'll be back."

"Yeesh, he's making it sound like he might get in trouble or something just for leaving us alone in his office," the cobalt hedgehog said in a low whisper so as to not let the crocodile hear before entering the fourth floor hallway.

"That's probably because he might," Tails simply replied as he took note that Vector's office was literally less than two yards away from the stairwell. "I'm sure that his office is home to a lot of case files, so to leave somebody alone in his office while he isn't there must not be a widely practiced method of safety."

"If that's the case, then why's he just leaving his office door open with so many supposed important case files in there?" the attorney countered back as he turned the door knob and effortlessly opened the door. "I would've imagined that he would've at least locked the door behind him before leaving."

"…I really don't have an answer for that," the two tailed fox replied with a shrug of his shoulders before entering the rather tidy office and closing the door behind him so nobody happening to pass by would see two strangers randomly hanging about in an office. "Guess that's something we can ask him before we get to the main reason for meeting him."

For the next few moments, both guys decided to just silently look around the room while waiting for Vector to come back. Inside the crocodile's office were the typical things that any attorney's office would need along with a few personal touches that clearly reflected its owner. Hanging along the walls on what was normally a hat rack were pairs of cordless headphones of the same size but differing colors and design styles. While most of them were green with various designs on them, there were a couple that held a sort of camouflage design on it. There were also two that clearly stood out from the rest. One was a pure ebon black with a blue lightning bolt decorating each side of the headset that looked the least scuffed and used. The other was also of the same black base color but with many streaks of red running across the connector between the two muffs in a striped fashion.

"Is it just me, or do these two headphones look like they're supposed to have some kind of resemblance to me and Shadow?" Sonic asked his little brother as he pointed to the two stand-out headphones. "I mean, all the others have some kind of green on them, but these two are the only ones that are clearly different. And it looks like he just recently bought the blue one since there aren't any scuff marks or anything like that. Is this his weird way of paying tribute to our attorney talents or something?"

"Maybe he was just playing around with a new color scheme," Tails suggested with a shrug of his shoulders as he was busy looking at some framed awards hanging proudly on the wall behind Vector's clean and well-polished cherry wood desk. "You can't really say he's paying tribute to you or anything. To be honest, I can't even see anybody in their right mind wanting to dedicate something of theirs to you.

"I'm actually more interested in these awards Vector has earned during his time as a prosecutor," he continued on while ignoring his older brother's clearly heated gaze at his previous comment. "Look at this one; he actually managed to get the "Best Rookie Prosecutor of the Year" award for his first year followed by a "Best Prosecutor of the Year" the year after that. Apparently, he started his career as a prosecutor two years ago when he was just twenty-years-old. I guess there's really more to him than just his gold chains and headphones if he's managed to nab these awards and have such a strong start."

"Well, he was a force to reckon with in the courtroom when he was prosecuting you for murder all those months ago," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he joined the other at examining the framed awards. He was still holding a bit of resentment from his little brother's comment and thus had a harsh look in his eyes. "He certainly wasn't making my job any easier with him getting in my way. And I can see why now what with all these things plastered up on his walls. And take a look at these over here; he's got two "First Place in Private Detective Agency Games" awards two years in a row. It looks like he started getting these the same year he started his career as a prosecutor. I guess they hold some kind of competition meant to pit rivaling private detective agencies against each other to see who the best is out of them all. Wonder how they played the game?"

"By digging up a case long since solved and actually recreating the scene for sake of the game," Vector suddenly said right after the sound of the office door opening was heard and earning him the attention of the two guys. He then continued to explain as he made his way towards his uncluttered desk with a somewhat thick file in his gloved hands, "The goal of these games is to see which private detective agency can find and gather the most evidence in a quick yet standard fashion. Once that round is over, they perform a mock court proceeding where the lead investigator of each team 'testifies' about what they saw and their recollection of what happened through the evidence they collected. Depending on how each question is competently answered, the trial will either continue on or end right where it is. Once that's done, they tally up the score for both the investigation courtroom scene. The one who ends up with the most points and is as accurate to how the case was actually taken care of by the detectives on that case ends up winning the competition."

"So it's basically meant to test out the skills of each detective agency and garner them bragging rights for the year until the next competition," the two tailed fox explained as the crocodile walked past him and took a seat on his comfy black computer chair and threw the file haphazardly on the table. "I would also imagine that it would give the police a chance to see which agency is the most competent should they ever be called upon as on-the-scene witnesses on a case."

"That's pretty much the whole thing in a nutshell," the prosecutor responded with a nod of his head. "However, things had to be a bit different in my team since I was already a prosecutor when I formed the Chaotix Detective Agency. In order to work around what could possibly be seen by others as an advantage, I simply had Charmy act as the head on-scene detective collecting the evidence with Espio supporting him while I simply just stood back and watched. I never said a thing during the two times we competed, and we still managed to win the competition twice in a row. So for the past two years, a lot of prosecutors have come to my office asking for my expertise on a case they're working from both a fellow coworker's and private detective's point of view."

"Wow, sounds like you never get any time to rest because of your popularity," Sonic said in a half-teasing tone as he tore his gaze away from the wall dedicated to awards. "I mean, you're also considered to be one of the best prosecutors that this Precinct has ever had the past couple of years. I find it hard to believe that I managed to take down the prosecutor of the year on my very first case."

"I'd like to say that it was just purely luck that you managed to take me down then, but I know I'd just be lying to myself," the croc said with an amused smile creeping onto his maw before he allowed his green headphones to rest along the back of his neck. "For a first time rookie at the time, you obviously knew what you were doing and was more prepared than your average rookie. And while those prosecutor awards I've received were based on my overall conviction ratings, the awards are just a bunch of empty words to me. I'm one of the few prosecutors around who feels that I've done my job right so long as the truth manages to make itself known by the time all the investigations and court hearings are done. Did you notice that it was only while I was chasing a false lead that you managed to come up to the truth of the matter during Tails' murder trial, Sonic? I'm sure you've also noticed the same thing happening when you were going up against Shadow during Knuckles' trial."

"…Now that you mention it, I have noticed things going like that," the cobalt hedgehog admitted with a nod of his head. "I guess the thought never really crossed my mind since I've only successfully defended two clients out of the two times I've been asked to be on the job. I'm not counting this one since it's not over yet. You really are different from what I've heard prosecutors are supposed to be back in high school when I was taking criminal justice classes. According to the class lectures, all prosecutors are supposed to be ruthless and not caring whether or not the defendant is innocent."

"Before you continue on with that line of thought, I've already told you that I only consider myself a success so long as I can get to the truth of the case. However, I do admit that the other prosecutors in this building are just as ruthless as you've been taught to think of them. The only ones who you see have any kind of sense of right and wrong during an entire court proceeding is me and Shadow."

"I really wonder sometimes how the judicial system is starting to crumble now that a majority of prosecutors just don't care for the truth," Tails said with a disappointed shake of his head at the explanation he just heard. He the then added with a change in tone, "Anyway, I think that's enough about talking about random things. I think we better get to the reason why Sonic and I came to meet you in the first place."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Vector agreed before sneaking a look at a clock on his wall and seeing it was already half past five. "If you're going to try and squeeze in some more investigation time after talking with me, then you're going to have to make it quick. So what is it that you wanted to ask me about?"

"Well, the first question we have regards around your investigation of the lighthouse," the two tailed fox started as he finally decided to take a seat on one of the spare chairs in the room with Sonic quickly following suit. "I must admit that when Charmy burst into the courtroom right when I was about to lose the case, I was more than happy to have him at least stall for time. I was even happier when he said that he wanted to testify about what he found that had to do with our case! However, I must admit that it was news to me when he said that the Chaotix Detective Agency was under contract by a third party to have explored that place. I was wondering if you could give me more details as to why you were asked to investigate and why wait until this morning to do so."

_**Details about Client Request**_

I suppose it's fair to let you in on the loop since it's your case that's being directly affected here. I honestly never would've thought that your case and our job would end up being connected like this. I just need you to promise me that whatever I talk about stays between us. If you want, you can talk to Knuckles, Shadow, or Silver about it since I trust them with this. Apart from them, make sure nothing leaks out of this room. It's not that I don't trust people; it's because what I'm going to say is supposed to be confidential.

_**End Argument**_

"I'm sure we can handle that so long as you don't go and drop a humungous bombshell on us," the cobalt hedgehog answered with a nod of his head. "But if it's something that's supposed to be confidential, are you sure you should even be telling us about it in the first place? It kind of sounds a bit out of line."

"As I said earlier, both your case and mine are connected now whether we like it or not," Vector repeated with a curt nod of his head. "As such, I find that it's more than alright for you to know a bit about the job my detective agency was assigned to. And who knows? We might be able to make a couple of connections while we're at it."

"Well, so long as you're okay with it all," Tails replied as he simply shrugged off the concern as if it were nothing. "And I'm supposing you won't mind if I asked you questions along the way every now and then? I promise that most of my inquiries will revolve around the current topic at hand."

"Oh boy, I'm getting this feeling that you're going to do what you did when Sonic was being framed for murder a few weeks ago," the crocodile said in a sarcastically teasing voice that was spoken in good nature. "I hope you're not planning on pinning me for some unspeakable crime with your talent that's highly unusual for someone your age."

"I promise you that I'm not going to try pulling off something like that on you," the two tailed fox responded with a warm smile. "Of course, I can't make any guarantees if you end up making yourself sound guilty for no good reason."

"If I manage to do that here, then I can only say that I deserve it for my stupidity. Just make sure you don't get carried away or anything like that. I don't need you announcing another crime scene and tagging a murderer onto it."

"Uh, can we please just get on with the explanations?" Sonic quickly cut in as he started to become impatient. "I still have some things that I want to do before the day's out, but you two aren't really helping me save time here!"

"Oops, sorry about that," the young kit apologized as he winced a bit at his mistake. "If you don't mind Vector, can you start giving us the details about the current job the Chaotix Detective Agency has been employed with?"

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"Well, let me go ahead and give you guys just the cliff notes since the whole story would be uneventful and take up too much time," Vector started after taking a moment to clear his throat. "I'm not sure if you already know this, but we were asked to investigate that lighthouse the day before your trial started. Naturally, I didn't think that the lighthouse would turn out to be the central point of your case. Then again, what were the chances of something like that ever happening in the first place?"

"I'd say it's pretty bad considering the careful planning that's needed if it were to have purposefully done that way to look like one amazing coincidence," Tails replied with a face that showed he did not believe what just came out of his own mouth to be the truth. "With that said, I'm pretty sure whoever staged the murder so that it would look like it took place at the harbor did not do a good job timing the entire scenario. Then again, to time a plan of such complexity to the exact minute is pretty hard to do regardless whether or not they originally planned for the lighthouse murder to be discovered. And if the lighthouse incident weren't supposed to have been discovered, then they would have gotten away with it were it not for Amy's Photograph capturing their one slip-up."

"Believe me when I say that almost all of the prosecutors here at the Precinct are talking about this particular case," the prosecutor stated as he nodded his head in agreement to the fox's explanation of things. "They're all amazed at how a rookie attorney like you could actually last so long against one of the best prosecutors in this district second only to the chief prosecutor. You should've seen the looks on everybody's faces when they heard that a case Mephiles was working on was actually extended to the final day of litigations. That's completely unheard of when it comes to that man."

"Boy, don't I feel special for making a case last longer than it should when in the hands of a man who's known to close them the minute he looks at it," Sonic sarcastically added with a roll of his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. "And while it's good to know that I got a lot of the prosecutors here wondering at my awe-inspiring abilities, can we please get back to answering the question as to why you decided to investigate the lighthouse this morning rather than the day after you received the job?"

"Oops, didn't mean to go off-topic there. Anyway, I really wanted to just get the job out of the way and suggested that we investigate the lighthouse the day after signing the contract. However, our client called us the morning after and insisted that we waited until this morning. He only said that he chanced on literally running into a girl at a photo development booth. He said he got a quick glance at the picture she had dropped and used it as the basis for his reasoning on making us wait until this morning. I guess it ended up being a good thing for you that he asked us to wait."

"So you're saying that it was under the direction of your client that you decided to not investigate the lighthouse on the day you were scheduled to which would be on the first day of Shadow's trial?" the two tailed fox asked as he tried to briefly summarize what he just heard. "And with that in mind, you both agreed to instead to investigate it this morning? I wonder why he wanted you to wait."

"If you want my opinion on this, I would say that he wanted to do a bit of investigating for himself before we got there," the crocodile suggested as he gave it some thought. "He's perfectly capable to do his own version of snooping around. That's the only reason I can think of him wanting us to wait. Then again, that was the place that caused him to ask for my help in the first place, so I guess he kind of panicked a bit when he ran into the girl and saw the picture she dropped. Anyway, that's everything that I can say concerning the job and the reason we were forced to delay the investigation by a day."

"That's really all you can say about it?" the cobalt hedgehog whined as he allowed a pout to approach his face. "I was kind of hoping that you'd be able to tell us a bit more about your job besides what we kind of already knew."

"Sorry, but anything more from what I've already disclosed is strictly between me and my client," the crocodile explained as he crossed his arms. "I'm not allowed to disclose anything that he had dubbed to be confidential. He did say that I could disclose it should certain circumstances arise, but that has yet to happen."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"Hmm, did he happen to mention what this girl looked like?" Tails asked as he changed the subject back to when Vector had said his client had ran into a girl. "I'm getting a sneaking suspicion as to who she was, but I can't be too sure right now."

"He only said that she was a young pink furred teenage hedgehog who happened to have been wearing a red summer dress that accentuated her fur," the crocodile explained with a shrug of his shoulders as he seemed apologetic at being unable to provide much information on the question. He then added as he thoughtfully fiddled with the gold chain around his neck, "He also said that she seemed to be in a rush since she barely registered she dropped her picture. He didn't tell me anything more than that."

"That sounds a lot like the witness we heard from on the first day of the trial," Sonic stated with an eyebrow raised in slight amusement at what was said. "I find it hard to believe that Amy and your client have any kind of connection whatsoever to each other. I mean, she demonstrated in court that she's a pretty outspoken girl while your client seems to love surrounding himself in all this secrecy. I'm probably guessing that what caused him to rethink having your agency investigating the lighthouse yesterday was when he saw the murder taking place there. That's the only reason that I can think of that makes sense with him having a change of heart after seeing Amy's Photograph."

"But then wouldn't that put Vector's client in trouble for having tried to keep a potential crime scene hidden from the authorities?" the young fox asked out loud as a random thought. "Assuming that your assumption is right, that would mean he knows what was going on that day the moment he saw the picture."

"You'd be right if these happened to be normal circumstances, Tails," Vector responded before shaking his head. "Any sane person would believe him to be somehow involved with your current case. However, because of whom the client is and what he does for a living, I can vouch for him that he has nothing to do with this murder."

"What you just said raises another question that we were thinking of asking you," the cobalt hedgehog quickly added while they were on the current subject. "What exactly is the name of your client, and just what exactly does he do for a living? He should have a pretty honest living if he is in fact an innocent person."

Instead of providing them an immediate answer, the crocodile stayed quiet for a few seconds as if he were contemplating what he should say next. It was almost as if he were hesitant on wanting to answer a seemingly simple question and now having a semi-defensive aura about him. Then again, the two were asking him to indulge them with information on a contract that most likely is meant to be kept private for legal purposes, so they were probably going to run into sensitive territory sooner or later.

_**Why Keep Client Name a Secret**_

…Unfortunately, I can't talk to you about my client's name and what he does for a living. That actually falls under the confidentiality portion of our contract. I can't go about telling anybody who doesn't know the first thing about him his name or even what he does for a living for that matter. I assure you that I'm one of his personal friends and know him quite well. Because of that, I promised him that I wouldn't reveal his name or talk about what he does under any circumstances. While discussing anything that's within a contract like his name is prohibited, I'm also doing this as a favor to him because of the job he's in. Unless you can supply me with a perfectly good reason why I should tell you about my client, I'm afraid this is one piece of information you're not going to be receiving anytime soon.

_**End Argument**_

"But what if we told you that we just so happen to know the name of your client and that he might actually be considered in our eyes to be a prime suspect in our case?" Tails asked in a sort of threatening manner that slightly took the other two off-guard. "If we were to tell you that as well as provide a suitable reason for his suspicions, then will you tell us what he does for a living? After all, I know that you're a truthful guy and whatever you say would definitely benefit to his overall innocence in this."

"…Had you framed your words differently and spoke them at a different time, I'd consider you to be blackmailing me right now," Vector lightly chuckled out after a moment of contemplative silence. "However, I'm down for your little guessing game. If you're right in both my client's name and provide reasonable suspicion for you thinking he might be a prime suspect in your case, I'll tell you about him. After all, he did allow for me to disclose whatever information I felt was necessary about him to the one with grave suspicions against him should he ever come into question. I'm guessing that this is one of those times. I never would've thought it'd be you questioning about him, however."

"Since I honestly have nothing to do with this potential blackmail scenario, I'm just going to keep my mouth shut on this," Sonic said as he scooted away from his brother's side as he started to feel a bit uncomfortable with the sudden change in attitude. "I honestly have no idea what you're doing now, Tails. I know this is Vector we're talking to, but don't you think you're putting too much force in your words right now? He's just trying not to break his part of the contract here!"

"Oh, you should know by now to trust me when it comes to things like this, Sonic," the fox stated in an overdramatic fashion before clearing his throat and speaking normally. "And it's not like I'm even trying to blackmail anybody here. I'm just trying to get us some information in the little time we have left. And if I can prove that he can disclose the information under that certain circumstance he mentioned earlier, then he won't be breaking his contract."

"Why is it that I'm having trouble believing you can pull something like that off?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with a groan escaping his lips. "With the gusto you put into centering Vector's client in the middle of our murder case, I wouldn't be surprised if you really were trying to blackmail him for more information right now."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"Anyway, before I get into what I believe your client's name to be, let me first start off by saying why I'm suspecting him of being a prime suspect in Shadow's case," Tails quickly announced so as to get off the topic of Sonic's current lack of confidence in him. "First off, considering that I have the right person in mind, your client has already shown himself to be a pretty suspicious person in the way he conducted his business with us a few days ago. When he came to the Robotnik Law Firm a few days ago, he was quite sketchy in some of his details. The way he described how he ended up finding us and what he wanted to discuss with us was also quite strange at best. From my point of view, that's already quite a bit against him personality and behavioral wise."

"If we really are talking about the same person, then I have to say that you have a pretty shaky basis for an argument," Vector replied as he leaned back in his chair a bit after closing the file he was looking at. "While I must admit that what you observed is condonable for something like this, it does not provide any concrete foundation to your current point. What you say about what you saw would only provide evidence of his behavior at the time. If I'm remembering correctly, the point you're trying to prove is whether or not my client can right now be considered a prime suspect in your case. After all, that is the only reason why you're seeking his name right now."

"…I suppose you're right about that," the two tailed fox admitted with a small nod of his head. "All I really did was state a good reason for having my suspicions. Even if this isn't a court of law, just presenting reason alone can hardly be considered as proof unless tied in with concrete evidence."

"And unless my suspicions are correct, you don't have any evidence on my client being that he's quite careful in that regard," the crocodile added with a smug look on his face as if he already knew he was correct. "He is quite careful as to not leave any kind of trail in the line of work he's in. I would suppose that's why he was being so suspicious in your eyes when you reportedly first met him at Sonic's office."

"We might not have any evidence, but you do have me and Sonic as witnesses to what we saw and remember. Since we're basically reiterating what we remembered seeing, you can't really say that we're producing hearsay. After all, you can pretty much look us right in the eye and see whether or not we're lying to you. And what might supposedly be useless information in proving our point might actually give us the proof we need."

"Hey, don't go dragging me into your blackmail scheme!" Sonic quickly exclaimed as he put his hands up in a defensive fashion. "I don't want anything to do with it, Tails. I'm not going to be sinking to your level. And besides, it's not like what I say can help you since you saw the same thing I did."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not trying to blackmail Vector here?" the young fox asked with an exasperated sigh escaping his lips followed with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "When are you going to get that ridiculous idea out of your head, Sonic? I'm just trying to get us some answers that we need."

"While I admit that I'm just as curious about this as you are, do you really think that this is something that's worth pursuing with the little time we have left to be investigating Shadow's case?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with clear doubt in his voice. "I really don't want to be chewed out by him tomorrow if we end up getting him a guilty verdict because we came up with nothing new to save him with."

"When this might actually have something to do with this case, then yes; I think that this is more than worth pursuing. Just try and bear with me a little bit longer, and try to keep out of your mind the fact that I'm trying to blackmail Vector here. And besides, I thought we already agreed before making our way here that we're most likely not going to come up with anything new if we tried looking more into Shadow's case? Tomorrow's outcome is solely revolving around Maxwell Pryce's testimony, and we can't really hear what he has to say about his innocence until then."

"While I must admit that watching you two fight like the brothers you are is pretty amusing, can we please get back to the main point here?" Vector simply butted in while shaking his head in amusement. "Like it is with you two, I don't have all night to be listening to a rather childish argument that sounds like it was already resolved before it started."

"S-sorry Vector," both guys apologized at the same time which ended up earning each other an annoyed gaze. Tails then said after regaining his composure, "I guess we kind of gotten a little carried away there. Anyway, do you know how you said earlier that we didn't have any concrete evidence that could show your client had any connection whatsoever to Shadow's murder trial?"

"And what about it?" Vector asked as he seemed curious by this rather bold statement. "Are you going to say next that you do have something to connect him to Shadow's case? If so, then I really can't wait to see what it's going to be."

"Well, I'll have you to thank for this information if it does end up being the thing that'll allow us to get some information on your client," the two tailed fox replied with a rather smug smile on his face. "If I remember correctly, you said earlier that your client had spontaneously decided to change when he wanted your detective agency to investigate the lighthouse. That is what you said, right?"

"And what exactly are you getting at here, Tails?" the crocodile asked before nodding his head in confirmation to the question. "I'm afraid that you're starting to lose me with your constant tangents."

"What I'm saying here is that you've already provided me with enough reason to believe that he might really be connected with this case and is thus a prime suspect. After all, you already provided us with an explanation on how he acted when he first ran into Amy at a photo development shop. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't you say that he told you that he had an immediate change of heart as to when you were to investigate the lighthouse right after he saw her Photograph?"

"…I see where you're going with this now," the prosecutor responded with a nod of his head and what looked to actually be a smile of amusement at the current situation. "It's because of what I said he did after that where you're now basing your claim that he might be involved in your case. I admit that I said that, and I also admit that your basis for suspecting him is now standing on a pretty firm foundation. Alright, you win; I'll go ahead and talk to you a bit about my client so as to get the cloud of suspicion away from him. After all, his reaction is more than sound enough to suspect him of at least playing some role in the execution of the murder Shadow's being accused of."

"That's exactly what I was thinking. And it's with this result that I claim that your client is most likely a prime suspect in the case Sonic and I are working on."

_**End Argument**_

"Now that we got that out of the way, let me go ahead and tell you who I believe the name of your client to be," Tails continued on as a triumphant smile adorned his face after proving within reason to Vector that his client is quite possibly connected to Sonic's murder case. "After listening to this exchange, I'm more than sure now that we're talking about the same person. That and Charmy already kind of confirmed it for us back in court when Sonic was busy cross-examining him. And before you ask, I wanted to hear your end on this subject before saying _Salemand Eres's_ name!"

"Humph, I didn't know that you two already knew his identity all the way from this afternoon," Vector replied in slight shock before changing back to his neutral face and reopening the file that had been in front of him. "Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised considering the many connections between my job and your case. That and the bee's big mouth gave it away for you."

"Actually, we only whispered the name into his ear since he had enough composure in his admittedly hyper mindset to not say Salemand's name out loud in court," Sonic responded. "So you're admitting that he's your client in the job he asked you to do?"

"Yes, he's the Chaotix Detective Agency's current client," the crocodile answered with a nod of his head and without taking his eyes off from the file. "He called me about three days ago in the afternoon asking for my services on a certain personal matter. He told me that he was calling from Knuckles's cell phone; I'm guessing that Knuckles happened to have been visiting your office that day. I'm also guessing that the black cat didn't say anything about who he called and what it was about."

"He pretty much kept the details of his call to himself and actually went through all the trouble to delete the call from Knuckles's call history," the two tailed fox said as he thought back to that very moment before Shadow's case ever reached them. "It was almost as if he didn't want us to see whatever tracks he might've left behind even after going through such a complicated procedure just to get to Sonic's office."

"I promise you that he has good reason to be acting all secretive," the other assured them both. "I don't know how much I should tell you about Salemand, but I suppose I should at least explain enough so as to say why he can't be a prime suspect in your case. And like you said earlier, you proved that I can tell you since his job is at risk at being compromised.

"You see, that black cat is not just your ordinary citizen walking through the streets of Mobius," the prosecutor began to explain. "In fact, him walking the streets of Mobius is a pretty risky thing for him to do considering the job he's currently working on. When he went to see you so he could find Knuckles, he was taking a pretty big risk on his part. You see, Salemand Eres is in actuality an undercover Interpol agent!"

"W-wait a minute!" the cobalt hedgehog explained as he almost fell off his chair upon hearing this information. "Did you just say that guy is a member of Interpol? He's one of those guys who are able to work on cases that span beyond the local countries legal boundaries, right? What's a guy like him doing asking a local detective agency for help in finding his brother? I would assume that he even has a little brother to look for considering how we now know why he has to be so secretive and all that!"

"Yes, he does have a younger brother, and I don't blame him for being concerned about him considering that he happens to have the debilitative Feralisis Syndrome. Actually, I've met his little brother a few times, and he hardly lets his genetic disease slow him down. He's even a member of Interpol himself and is often times paired up with Salemand on missions. But as much as he loves to deny it, even he has to admit that he relies on his older brother for a lot of things that you and I would normally take for granted."

"Would I be right in supposing that this is Salemand's little brother?" the young kit asked as he pulled out the Picture he had received from Knuckles before their recess in court was over and presented it to Vector. "We received this earlier today from Knuckles who said he ran into the black cat while bringing key evidence to us."

"…Yes, this is little Leon," Vector confirmed with a slow nod of his head as a gleam of familiarity came across his eyes. "It's been a while since I've last spoke to him let alone see him. Then again, it's also been a while since I've heard from Salemand before our most recent conversation. The fact that you have this Picture means that he told you he was looking for his little brother and at least asked for you to keep an eye out for him."

"Wait a minute; did you just call him 'Leon'?" the defense attorney asked as he raised an eyebrow in confusion at this. "When Knuckles gave us this Picture, he said that the guy's name was supposedly Leukis Kruger. However, he could not find any information on a person with such a name in the records."

"That's because the names Leukis Kruger and Salemand Eres are their chosen code names in case they ever get tied into a city's local police's criminal investigation," the prosecutor simply responded. "It's so that they can keep their cover since they honestly can't go about trusting people with sensitive information. I've already accidentally told you his little brother's real name; I'm not about to make that same mistake with him. I'm going to leave it to him as to whether or not he wants to tell his real name to you.

"Anyway, back to the main topic at hand. When Salemand called me, he asked for my help in finding his little brother because he did not have the time to be searching himself. All he knew was that he last saw him hanging around the lighthouse a couple of days before your case came to be. As I said earlier, he and I know each other pretty well; that's why he trusted me with this job despite not being a member of Interpol. While it might not be my place to do so, I apologize on his behalf for any trouble or suspicions he might've given you two when he visited you at the Robotnik Law Firm."

"Now that we know the reasoning behind his strange and rather incriminating behavior, I don't really think apologies are needed," Tails simply replied with a shake of his head. "It's still kind of hard to believe, however, that those two brothers are actually undercover Interpol agents! I seriously didn't see that one coming."

"One more question about the guy before I ask you something else," Sonic said as a moment of curiosity flashed by his mind. "What is Salemand currently working on right now? Did he ever tell you that when you talked to him? I'm sure he isn't here just because his brother happened to be missing."

"I know I said we were good friends, but he's not going to be that personal in information with me," Vector said with an amused chuckle. "For safety reasons, an Interpol agent's current mission is kept between those involved with it and the one who issued it for them. Since I'm neither of those two, I'm kept in the dark as to what he's doing. If you want to know more about him, I suggest talking to him yourself when you get the chance. Now that I've answered your question, why don't you go ahead with what else you want to know?"

"Well, you just kind of gave me another question to ask you, but I'll come back to that," the cobalt hedgehog replied with a small frown before crossing his arms. "Actually, this kind of transformed into a two-part question. First off, is Salemand somehow involved with the LK-9 Incident that landed me and Tails where we are today? And secondly, do you have any information that you can give us regarding the case?"

"If you mean whether or not he's one of the kidnappers who kidnapped you and your friends five years ago, I can say for certain that he isn't," the prosecutor answered as he leaned back a bit in his chair. "However, that's as far as I know in terms of that. If he is involved, then I'm sure it would've been most likely under the careful instructions of Interpol to act as their mole. Only he would know for sure, but I'd doubt that he'd tell you anything about it being that the case is still pending in our jurisdiction.

"And as to your second question, who do you think you're talking to?" he continued on in a rather proud fashion before turning the file in front of him so that it was facing Sonic and Tails. "Don't you remember me telling you long ago that I was working on the case alongside Knuckles and Silver? Knuckles and I have to do so during our spare time, so it's really Silver who's taking up the reigns in this personal investigation. However, each of our positions tends to only allow us access to certain portions of the case since none of us are officially taking over the case. As such, I only have the LK-9 Case File on me."

"Well, I suppose that's better than nothing right now," the two tailed fox said with a shrug of his shoulders as he brought the file closer to him and his older brother. "Just so I'm sure Vector, what's usually written in case summary files?"

"It just has the basic facts that any prosecutor or defense attorney should know if they plan on taking up the case. It details the victims, alive and dead, involved in the crime as well as any known suspects at the time followed up by an autopsy report of the dead. It also has a witness list as well as a brief summary of what happened from before, during, and after the start of the case. They're all separated into their respective subcategories; Case Summary, Victims List, Autopsy Reports, and Witness List."

"Wow; that's sounds like a pretty complicated case file," Sonic replied with a low whistle after hearing that explanation before deciding to look over his little brother's shoulder. "Then again, I've never seen a case file before. I'm too used to starting a case from scratch rather than picking up the pieces left behind by others."

"If you're planning on bringing the LK-9 Incident to court tomorrow, then you better get used to the format of this file. You're going to have to fall back on this for information gathered five years ago. Apart from this, you're going to need recorded witness testimonies and evidence procured from the beginning of this case. Knuckles has access to the witness accounts, but only Silver can have free access to the evidence locked in the second floor evidence room being that he's a senior detective. If Knuckles is anything like me in terms of this case, then I'm sure he made copies of each witness's testimonies. You should see him when you have the chance and ask him for it. Naturally, evidence cannot be copied, so you'll have to ask Silver for help in seeing the evidence. He'll have to accompany you, but I doubt you'll have any problems with that being that we're all friends doing each other favors."

"I don't think that'll be much of a problem," Tails replied without once taking his eyes off of the LK-9 Case File that was currently on the Case Summary section. "He's always more than willing to help us with whatever case we're on if he can." He then said after a couple more seconds, "Do you mind if we took this file home with us? I have a feeling it's going to take a while to get through this."

"No problem; I can always make myself another copy," the crocodile answered with a smile before getting out of his chair and heading towards his shelf full of files. "And while you're at it, I'd like you to also take the overall summary of the first trial I ever participated in. It's pretty much the details of what happened just before LK-9, so I'm sure that it'll at least provide you with more help."

"…Your first case happened to be my uncle's last?" the cobalt hedgehog asked as he seemed slightly taken aback by this. "So even you are connected to LK-9 if only through indirect means. It's really funny how all of us who were connected to that case are now getting sucked back into it close to the day the statute of limitations runs out. It's almost as if there's something out there begging us to get to the bottom of it.

"Anyway, thanks for all the information you gave us, Vector!" he quickly changed the subject in a more cheerful tone before closing the LK-9 Case File and carrying it in his arms despite Tails' clear protest at having not finished reading it yet. "If the LK-9 Incident ever does get the chance to be heard in court tomorrow, then all this is definitely going to be a lot of help. Oh, I almost forgot!" he exclaimed just as he was about to head towards the door. "We went to visit Shadow at the Detention Center earlier before coming to see you. He said that he had a question he wanted to ask you. He wanted to know where you were during Knuckles' murder trial on the day I was indicting Ace Sleuth."

"That's an easy one to answer. I was hanging out at the courthouse lounge area after finishing my case. I managed to catch wind that you were indicting one of the Precinct's well known detectives and just had to see how you were doing. I was honestly interested in how you were going to pull this off being that it was only the second case of your career. That and it isn't every day you hear of a police detective being accused of murder."

"Were you the only one in the lounge that day?" the two tailed fox asked as he seemingly forgotten about the question Shadow wanted them to ask the crocodile.

"Well, I must admit that it was a pretty slow day in terms of court cases being heard," Vector responded as he gave it some thought. "However, there were two other people in the lounge watching the case with me. One of them was some prosecutor who really isn't all that great if you ask me. In my opinion, I think he should be retiring soon since he's having a hard time getting any of his points across both in and out of court. I'm guessing his name is Payne, but I'm not really sure. He really doesn't stand out all that much."

"Yeesh, that's pretty apparent if you don't even know who he is," Sonic said with a raised eyebrow at what he heard. "Sounds like I'll have an easy time against him if we ever meet up in court. Anyway, who's the second person who was in there?"

"Oh, you should know him pretty well," the prosecutor simply responded. "After all, you've been challenging him in court these past two days already and are going for a final faceoff tomorrow."

"Are you telling me that Mephiles was watching the case that day?" the cobalt hedgehog asked as his eyes widened in surprise. "He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would care about how other attorneys are doing in their cases."

"I was just as surprised to see him there myself," the crocodile agreed with the other. "That Payne guy told me that he's been working as a prosecutor just as long as Mephiles has and never once saw him set foot in the lounge room until that day. And just like you said, I doubt he wanted to watch the outcome of the trial just because of the amazing rookie attorney holding up against young prosecutor prodigy. This is just a hunch on my part, but I think he had some ulterior motive to watch your case in the lounge that day."

"You might not be too far off with that thought, Vector," Tails replied in an undertone that was barely heard by the prosecutor. "Shadow wanted us to ask you that because he thinks someone working with the courthouse tampered with the numbers in Ace Sleuth's phone. On the same day Ace was convicted of murder, Shadow placed him under protective custody. He then took his cell phone and had all the numbers traced to their owners. Unfortunately, they were all just burner phones, and they all somehow managed to make their way to the city dumps. Not one phone that was listed on the detective's lead to a single person. And he had them all traced in less than a day!"

"And he's thinking that somebody who happened to watch the trial that day and was a worker for the courthouse tipped off the owner of those phones," Vector finished off as he nodded his head in understanding. "That's the only thing that would make sense under these conditions. If that's the case, then the timing in which Mephiles left the lounge is pretty strange. I wouldn't have thought much of it if you didn't bring this up."

"What are you talking about?" the defense attorney questioned with eyebrows raised in confusion. "Besides his obvious attitude problem, what did he do that day that you now consider strange after hearing this?"

"Well, I'm not saying that this is concrete evidence or anything; but Mephiles left the lounge room only after Shadow announced that he wanted to place Ace under protective custody and that he was an important witness in another case. At the time, I had just figured that he saw the end result of the trial and didn't want to see any more. However, now I'm not so sure on that. He was also reaching into his pocket by the time he left the room, but I can't say for certain he was reaching for his phone."

"…You're right; it doesn't say much about him except that he has some pretty coincidental timing," the two tailed fox replied as he mulled over the new details for a couple of seconds before taking a nearby pen and scratch paper to write down Vector's Account of that day. "I guess all we can do now is ask Ace ourselves about who those numbers belonged to."

"I think I'll go ahead and do that myself. I'm sure Shadow already told you, but I'm the only one besides him who knows where the ex-detective is being held. I honestly thought that he'd be a dead-end by now being that the LK-9 Incident's statute of limitations is almost up. All this proves how wrong I was on that.

"Anyway, why don't you hang out here for a while longer while I go ahead and call Salemand here?" Vector suggested as he opened his desk drawer and pulled out his cell phone. "After what we discussed earlier, I'm sure you two have some questions you want to ask him. That and I doubt that you're done with your work here seeing as how you're probably going to see Silver later about looking at the evidence surrounding LK-9 and then Knuckles for the witness testimonies after that."

"…Yeah, I guess that's a good idea," Sonic replied with a shrug of his shoulders before moving back to the chair he had occupied earlier and sitting on it once again. "Are you sure you can get him up here, though? I thought you said that it was dangerous for him to be out in the open for a long time."

"He knows that the Precinct building is the safest place there is since I'm one of his closest confidants in this city," the crocodile explained as he began to dial some numbers. "He did tell me once he had a contact here who can connect him with Interpol should something bad happen, but I have no idea who he is. Just sit tight here while I call him over. If you'll excuse me for a minute…" he added before getting out of his chair and heading out into the hallway where he could have some privacy.

"Oh, this is definitely going to one long night," the cobalt hedgehog groaned out as his little brother nodded his head in agreement. "I figured that we'd be spending a long time on this when we were talking to Shadow, but I didn't think it'd take this long."

"Just grin and bear it, Sonic," Tails suggested as he got up from his chair and began wandering around the office again. "At least you can't say that none of this has been informational. We're actually learning a lot more about the LK-9 Incident than we would have if we went digging up information ourselves."

Instead of supplying an answer, the defense attorney simply let out another groan before letting his head rest on top of Vector's desk. Even though he was curious as to the details of the case from five years ago, he was certainly not looking forward to having to go through this rather long and tedious process of gathering information. He was mentally hoping that all this torture was going to be worth it at the end of the day.

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. There are four sections in the case file that have yet to be reviewed by the two.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

**New Profile:**

Leukis Kruger (luke-is crew-grr): Salemand's eighteen-year-old younger albino lion brother who has been afflicted with the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome. He is apparently a member of Interpol with his name simply a code name. According to Salemand, he has been missing for a few days. As accidentally revealed by Vector, his real name is actually Leon.

**Updated Profile:**

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius and using his current name as an alias. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It is suspected that he might know something concerning the LK-9 Incident.

* * *

><p>Just one short side-note here. The name Leukis Kruger is derived from the scientific name of the rare albino lion that actually does exist in this world. I just changed it up a bit to make it sound a lot less scientific. And before any of you ask what the scientific term is, I don't remember. I came up with the name over three months ago when I first started creating this particular case.<p> 


	25. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 11

Hello everybody! It's been a month since I've last made an update to this story. Unfortunately, school has been being bad to me lately and I've found myself playing the desperate game of catch-up that I've unfortunately lost. It's near the end of the quarter, and I've already done the math in terms of the points and grade. They don't add up to a promising number, so I've basically failed one of my classes. Oh joy... But yeah, that's the reason why I haven't been updating any of my stories lately. I'm really starting to think that going to college was the wrong path for me... Oh well, got to live with my mistakes, right?

Anyway, I'll just keep this short this time around since it's late in the night on my end and I want to go to bed. Let me just say that I've revived one of my stories on here, "The Curse of Destati Communion Elementary." It's a horror story that I've decided to revive because I was feeling bored and wanted to write something new. Hope you all take the time to read it. So until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

**Evidence:**

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing with the forensics report brought by Knuckles. It shows that the blood belonged to Ms. Mae and proving that she was at the lighthouse the moment she was murdered.

Fake Murder Weapon: An idea conjured up by Tails while exploring the lighthouse. After hearing Charmy's testimony, the thought of a fake weapon being in play is now a reality. A fake gun was found by the bee inside a clock and bears Shadow's fingerprints. Being that Shadow never entered the lighthouse before, this is proof that this was the gun seen at the docks the moment after the 'murder' witnessed by Amy Rose.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

Bullet Casing: A casing found on the lighthouse balcony and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The ballistic markings on it matched exactly with the bullet that was extracted from Ms. Mae. It also proves that the gun found on the docks was actually used and moved from the lighthouse.

Doctor Reports: Paperwork found in the lighthouse living room and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. They prove that Mr. Pryce visits the doctor every week for his condition. They also seem to indicate that he lives with a caretaker because of the fact that such complicated reports were sent to his house.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some prior knowledge of the fake murder taking place on the Mobius Docks. While a handwriting analysis could not be done on the contents because of the lack of a reasonably suspicious person to compare it to, Mr. Pryce's fingerprints were found all over it.

Firecracker: The Red Paper found stuck on the side of the Mobius Docks and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. Tests prove that it was once a Firecracker before it had exploded, and the black mark on it was from the explosion. The tape that is still on it has some burned fibers that belonged to a rope.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

Fingerprints: Prints found in the lighthouse by Charmy Bee. They were on a cup shoved all the way towards the back of a kitchen cupboard as if in a haste with a cup of tea still in it. This proves that it was used recently. They belong to the victim in the case, Ms. Flora Mae, but Vector recognized the prints from the LK-9 Incident and realized they actually belonged to Ms. Lois Pryce. This proves that these two people are actually one.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. There are four sections in the case file that have yet to be reviewed by the two.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius and using his current name as an alias. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It is suspected that he might know something concerning the LK-9 Incident.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern two years ago.

Flora Mae: The victim in this case who was a prosecutor at the local prosecutor's office. She was proven to have been at the lighthouse at the moment of her death. Because of her fingerprints found in the lighthouse, it has been proven that she is in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Max's sister who has been thought to have been killed in the LK-9 Incident.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who seems to have a mental problem and trapped with a seven-year-old mind. Through excellent execution of evidence, Sonic and Tails have thrown doubt on the thought that he is actually mentally challenged and is just as capable as any other man his age.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

Charmy Bee: a young eight-year-old bee who happens to be employed with the Chaotix Detective Agency. Apparently, he was sent to investigate the lighthouse by a third party who had employed the agency to do so. As such, he has arrived at the courthouse in order to testify about this matter at the very last minute.

Ace Sleuth: A former senior detective from the local Precinct who is now behind bars for having murdered his fiancée. Since his conviction, Shadow has had the man living at an undisclosed location and under witness protection because of the potential importance he might have in solving the LK-9 Case.

Leukis Kruger (luke-is crew-grr): Salemand's eighteen-year-old younger albino lion brother who has been afflicted with the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome. He is apparently a member of Interpol with his name simply a code name. According to Salemand, he has been missing for a few days. As accidentally revealed by Vector, his real name is actually Leon.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 25: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 11<strong>

For the next couple of minutes, Sonic and Tails patiently waited inside Vector's office for either Salemand or the crocodile to enter. In the meantime, the two decided to keep themselves busy by looking at the various things belonging to the prosecutor that were practically strewn all over the room.

"Hey Vector!" a familiar voice announced just as the office door was opened. "I've got some files from that case that I thought you might be interested in looking over. I know it's a bit late to be figuring out new stuff, but it's better than after the statute of limitations is up."

"Hey Silver," the cobalt hedgehog greeted the senior detective as he immediately greeted the new person before turning his gaze towards the door. "If you're looking for Vector, he just left to make a call a couple of minutes ago."

"So I just missed him, huh?" Silver said before letting out a small sigh and making his way to the crocodile's desk. He then put on top of said desk a couple of files that were in his hands. "Hmm, it must've been a pretty important call if he isn't hanging around in the hallway. I was hoping I could get his opinion on some things that I found while digging for some information regarding the LK-9 Incident."

"You're still looking into that?" Tails asked as he tore his gaze from the wall with the headphones and saw the silver furred hedgehog taking a seat. "I figured that you might've given up by now seeing as how the statute of limitations is going to be up tomorrow."

"As long as I still have time to look into it, I'm not stopping," the senior detective simply replied with his arms loosely crossed. "While the details of this case really intrigue me, this is literally the very first case I was introduced to when I first started my internship two years ago. Apparently, the detective I was studying under happened to be one of the head investigators for the LK-9 Incident. At the time, I worked my butt off on the case so I could prove to everybody here who thought I was too young that I could handle myself. I even managed to get in a couple of new points across that the veterans missed.

"However, my thoughts on it changed somewhere along the line," the detective continued on with his apparent reminiscent rant while Sonic and Tails listened intently. "When I was in the interrogation room and being taught how to talk to witnesses in accordance to the current situation, I learned that there was more to the job than just receiving cases and trying my hardest to solve them. You and Tails were called in that day because of a new development that the police found during their third year of investigating. My mentor was questioning you then and had me on the other side of the glass watching how things were done. I guess you can say then that was when I actually saw the truth to being a detective and what we strive to do for victims of terrible crimes."

"…Wow, I really can't see you as this naïve detective like you said you were even as just an intern," Sonic responded after hearing the short monologue. "Even when we met for the first time, you sounded like a pretty serious guy. I can't imagine you as anything other than a guy who's serious about his job."

"You do know that I have a life outside of this, right? Anyway, I think that's enough about the whole reminiscent thing. What I'm more curious about is why you and Tails are here. I never really expected to see you both in here of all places."

"Well, we came here looking for information on both a certain individual and the LK-9 Incident," the two tailed fox responded as he automatically diverted his gaze back to the files that Silver had brought with him and left on the desk. "We figured that we could figure something out about who Shadow wanted us to ask about and ended up learning more about the incident we were involved in at the same time."

"And speaking about figuring stuff out, you said while coming in that you discovered some stuff concerning the LK-9 Incident," the cobalt hedgehog quickly changed subjects as he brought his gaze to the file that Silver brought in with him. "Do you mind sharing what you figured out with us?"

"I know you said that you were looking into that case, but I don't think this is something that you're allowed to see," Silver replied as he shook his head at the suggestion. "I mean, information from cases like that is considered classified to all but the senior detectives and who they choose to disclose it to. I know Vector wants to figure it out for Knuckles' sake being that they're practically childhood friends; so I allowed him access to the files."

"I mean no offense to you, but don't you think you're being a bit hypocritical?" Tails asked with a raised eyebrow at the response. "You're allowing Vector to have access to the information despite him not being able to do so himself and are keeping us in the dark? I really hope you're not playing favorites here or anything like that."

"Hmm, it sounds Sonic's attitude is starting to rub off on you, Tails," the silver furred hedgehog observed with a light chuckle. "However, I assure you that I'm not playing favorites here. It's just that Vector and I have a better chance at discovering any information that's pertinent to the case being that we both have detective skills and backgrounds. On the other hand, you two are versed in the way of the defense attorney and are not necessarily well-equipped to handle on-scene investigations and the gathering of intel from cases that are currently outstanding."

"Humph, as if that has anything to do with it!" the defense attorney replied with a huff and childish pout. "I'd like to think that as victims from the LK-9 Incident, we have the right to know what's been discovered and whether or not the case is actually moving forward. And besides, we've done a little bit of digging into the case ourselves and discovered some information we never knew."

"…I can't really argue with you on that," the detective admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "Alright, I'll tell you what you want to know about the case. I doubt, though, that you'll really be able to figure out anything worthwhile that hasn't already been discovered by either me or the detectives working on this at the time."

"Well, we're happy enough that we're getting new information and not having to fight for it this time around," the two tailed fox said with a sigh that sounded both tired and aggravated. "We first talked to Shadow and didn't really get much apart from the leftover leads he had yet to follow up on before this case. It's because of those leftover leads that we even decided to come over and visit Vector in the first place. And when we asked him questions both from Shadow's lead and what we've discovered over the course of this current trial, it was like trying to pull teeth from a grown man!"

"Considering how tomorrow's the last day the case is going to be considered legally open and solvable, I'm not too surprised that they both gave you a hard time. In all honesty, it's not really common practice to be sharing information on a case whose statute of limitations is almost up to someone who doesn't even know the first thing about it. And as I said earlier, even I'm skeptical that me telling you the details is going to be a productive use of your time. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be concentrating your energy on Shadow's case?"

"Yeesh, you make it sound as if we're young kids trying to impress our teacher," Sonic said as he continued giving off his pouty face. "And don't worry about whether or not we can come up with some new explanations. We're really just collecting as much detail as we can in case the LK-9 Incident does get brought up in court tomorrow."

"I somehow doubt that you hearing the information right now is going to help you much. Just make sure you don't let this all distract you from defending Shadow from his murder trial. I know that you can only wait for Mr. Pryce's testimony now that he's considered a person of interest, but don't let a five-year-old case take up all your time. I'm sure Shadow wouldn't let you hear the end of it whether or not he's found not guilty tomorrow when he hears that you've devoted so much time on this."

"Eh, what he doesn't know won't hurt," the cobalt hedgehog simply replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Now how about you start telling us what you know about the case before we end up dragging this night on more than it should be?"

"When you put it that way, I guess cliff notes are going to be the most logical choice of explanation," Silver admitted with a nod of his head as he got himself into a more comfortable position on the chair. "Alright, make sure you're listening carefully because I'm not going to repeat myself twice on this.

"You already know about how this whole case started, so I'm not going into that," the detective began. "When the news first caught wind of the unfortunate incident, you can imagine how much air time it got. I can't say I'm surprised at that since a well-known police detective and defense attorney were murdered. It's just unfortunate that the two of them happened to be you and Shadow's respective relatives."

"That still doesn't explain why both of us along with Tails and Knuckles were roped into it in the first place," the defense attorney replied with a shake of his head as if he were not hearing what he wanted to hear. "We all just happened to be in the courthouse lobby at the same time some random men just barged in and took us hostage. I still remember how they threatened to kill us then and there if we dared to make any kind of loud noise and act like we were in trouble."

"Well, now I know how you all managed to get kidnapped in a building that was riddled with law enforcement. I can't say I blame you for cooperating with your kidnappers being that even I would've been scared about what was going on. However, I can't really say why you four were brought into all this trouble. The best thing that I along with the police who were working on this case at the time can come up with is that you all happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Sonic, why don't you concentrate on something that you think you can get an answer to rather than asking something that's really only for your benefit?" Tails asked as he shook his head at his older brother's apparent lack of adequate questioning. "Do you mind if we asked you how it was you ended up becoming interested in our case? Vector already kind of gave us a bit of information on that, but I'm sure you might be able to add more to it."

"Well, counting the time I was interning, I've been with the detective force for three years at the least. Half of that time was me interning with the latter half being what I am now, a senior detective. After interning for a full year, the detective I was mentoring under had taken an interest in the LK-9 Incident. At first, I had just figured it to be just another poring procedure that I had to watch so I can figure out how to act as a professional detective. However, when I saw him questioning you and Sonic that day about what had happened during the time you were kidnapped, I realized that there was more to the job than just standard procedure. I had never been in your shoes before, but I really felt for the situation you had found yourselves in. I guess that's when I took an interest to the case; it was the very first one that made me into the senior detective that I am today. If it weren't for that, I'd most likely still be wondering how to act like a compassionate and professional detective right now."

"Wow, I didn't think that you seeing us then would've had so much effect on you," the two tailed fox said with a surprised look on his face. "I guess you could've become a slouchy detective if it weren't for that."

"You'd be surprised at the things I've seen as a detective that end up changing because of one seemingly small detail. Anyway, we're getting off the subject here. I became interested in the case mainly because of you two, but it was also because my mentor had me working on that case for most of my internship. To be perfectly honest, that was the only case I was familiar with by the time I became an actual detective. That's pretty much my story on how I became interested in the LK-9 Incident."

"…That was kind of more than what I asked for, but okay," Sonic replied with a shrug of his shoulders as if he were not interested in what was just said. "So you only became interested in the whole thing because of seeing us for the first time. How about we move onto the next question now?"

"…I guess your impatience isn't something that's going to change anytime soon," Silver said with a sigh that sounded oddly irritated. "Anyway, I can't say I really learned a lot more about the incident since the day I became a full-fledged detective. I have, however, had access to a lot of files regarding the case because of my position as senior detective. As a way to satisfy my curiosity and ultimately my way to pay tribute to my late mentor who had passed away a month after me becoming senior detective, I've read and practically memorized most of the files from front to back."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Tails replied with surprise clear in his tone. "How do you find time to study up on the case while conducting your other business at the same time? I doubt that you get much free time to do anything much since something always manages to pop up. Wouldn't you get confused if you were doing two things at once?"

"That's exactly why I've enlisted Vector's help on this," the silver furred hedgehog simply responded. "While he's just as busy as I am with his job as a prosecutor, he has more free time since he's technically not working on a case at every waking moment of his life. That and his side job of running a private detective agency allow him some resources to investigate certain matters he finds worth checking into. Apart from his court appearances, he's not as busy as me most of the time. It's because of him that I've been able to discover some worthwhile answers; however, they hardly lead to the ultimate answer that I'm trying to get at."

"And that would be who ended up murdering both my uncle and Shadow's sister," the cobalt hedgehog concluded as he seemed slightly deep in thought about something. "Does this lead up to what you said when you came in here tonight about files that the crocodile wanted to take a look at?"

"I would suspect that to be the case, but I'm not overly sure since I've yet to ask him about it. To be perfectly honest, he's seemed more charged up about the LK-9 Incident ever since the current trial with Shadow started up. I can't help but feel that the two right now are connected somehow."

"Oh, believe me when I say that they're most likely connected," the defense attorney answered with a snort. "I don't know if you heard what I did in court today, but I said that Mr. Pryce was the most likely culprit in the murder of Flora Mae. I also learned that he was involved with the LK-9 Incident along with his sister who had been posing as the current victim in my case this entire time. Vector said that one of his friends tipped him off about the possible connection long before I even figured all this out, so I'm not surprised that he became more immersed on that case these past couple of days."

"Hmm, I've been too busy with the other stuff I have on my desk that I haven't had much of a chance to catch up on what happened today with the trial. And are you sure that Prosecutor Flora Mae was in actuality Lois Pryce? That's a pretty outrageous claim to make no matter how you try to make us look at it."

"Then I guess it's lucky for us we managed to obtain evidence that helps to supplement our admittedly wild claim," the two tailed fox explained as he tried to remember the explanation he got from Vector earlier. "When Charmy had brought the victim's prints from the lighthouse back for processing, Vector said he saw some notable similarities to that of the supposedly dead Lois Pryce. Acting on those suspicions, he had them compared and discovered that the victim from our case and the supposedly dead woman were in fact the same person. In essence, there was no third murder victim in the LK-9 Incident; rather, she purposefully acted as though she had been killed and was living a completely different life this entire time! Why she became the victim in our current case now is another question altogether."

"…Perhaps she was killed for the same reason why the victims from Sonic's past cases were killed," Silver randomly brainstormed as he leaned back in his chair and looked deep in thought. "If you think about it, all of the cases that he has solved thus far all found the true culprit to be guilty without having established a clear motive for their actions. What if, and I'm speaking hypothetically here, their motive for conducting those murders was simply to get you four on the hook for crimes you never committed? Even I've noticed that you four who were involved with the LK-9 Incident are all being framed one by one. By ruining your lives, the person orchestrating all of this will also inevitably take out of the equation anything that would potentially revive the LK-9 Incident from the Precinct archives. That seems to be a more than reasonable conclusion with what we already know."

"But if that's the case, then that would mean somebody desperately wants to make sure the LK-9 Incident doesn't see the light of day again," the young fox concluded as he tried to think deeper into the subject. "However, that doesn't explain the roles of the victims who ended being used in the true criminal's scheme of framing us all. They most likely died for a specific reason rather than just being a complete random target. I remember from Sonic's first case that the murderer said something about the victim having figured out he was smuggling things off of certain ships. In the case involving Ace Sleuth, he said that he begrudgingly killed his fiancée simply because she looked through and called all the foreign numbers on it. And in the case that saw Espio as the true culprit, we only discovered that he was somehow tied to the case because of some of the LK-9 case files found in his home. If they are all truly following the instructions of one person, then that would mean their leader is quite calculative. I doubt this person would just ask them all to kill random people for the sake of getting us framed."

"Hmm, you do raise a good point there, Tails," the silver furred hedgehog agreed with a thoughtful hum of his breath. "The thought honestly didn't cross my mind until you brought it up. If a person is that calculating to plan out three murders so carefully where one single specific person is singled out to be the only true culprit, I doubt they would just up and order a random person to be killed. It wouldn't fit with their overall calculative behavior patterns."

"If that's the case, then wouldn't it be possible that the person trying to frame all of us has some sort of vendetta against those he had his lackeys kill?" Sonic asked as he tried to offer his two cents in the subject. "I kind of remember Ace saying something after confessing to murdering his fiancée that it was because his boss figured out she was snooping at the secret numbers that she was to be killed. Is it possible that the other two murder victims from my cases were also killed by the true perpetrator's personal vendetta against them?"

"If you're going with that argument, then you're forgetting to put the murder suspects from your first case and the incident that took place here a few weeks ago into the equation. What reason would the person behind your framings want them dead? While Ace's fiancée has a reason, the other two don't."

"…But what if we already know about the reason the victim in Sonic's first case was killed?" Tails suggested as he took a moment to think about it. "Remember what I said earlier about the murderer from Sonic's first case saying that he was caught smuggling goods off of ships by the victim? Even when assured that his secret was safe, he still ended up being killed. Is it possible that the smuggler reported to the person he might've been delivering the goods to and was then ordered to kill the witness?"

"…Are you insinuating that the person trying to frame you all for murder is actually affiliated with a smuggling group?" the detective asked as he raised his eyebrows a bit in question at the claim. "That's honestly a pretty strong claim to make. Take into account that everything we've been saying up to now is hardly supported with any kind of evidence and we're engaging in nothing but pure hearsay. While I admit that the possibility of everything that we've said tonight to be the truth is good, they won't amount to anything to anybody else without any kind of concrete proof to supplement it."

"Then how about we remember all the claims we've made tonight and see what we can figure out before tomorrow morning comes around?" the cobalt hedgehog suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. "If it's proof we need that what we're saying is the truth, then we should at least make some sort of effort with what little time we have left to figure out these answers. I doubt it'll end up finding itself if we just keep talking about it."

"I guess that's really all we can do now," the two tailed fox conceded as he took a pen along with a piece of paper that he made sure would hold no significant importance to Vector from the desk. "Let me start putting them down so we don't forget about it. The first thing we started brainstorming about was the motive that all the murderers in Sonic's cases and the incident that took place in this building for committing their murders. We say that it's most likely to get the four of us on the hook so we can never have the chance to bring back the LK-9 Incident if it were to ever be mentioned again. It'd no doubt be a very effective method had it worked since we were the only living direct witnesses to that incident.

"Secondly, we came to the conclusion that all the unfortunate victims in all these cases weren't killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time; rather, they were a part of an even bigger plan that stems away from our framing attempts," he continued while writing down everything they covered. "As a way to justify our thoughts, we used what we heard from the murderers' mouths to give reason as to why each victim was murdered. We did say that it was quite plausible that each murder was directed by one mastermind, but we have yet to garner any kind of concrete proof that what we said is the truth. It would be the only explanation that makes sense, however, since we believe the true mastermind to be a calculative person.

"And thirdly, with everything that has been said tonight, we've come to the thought that the mastermind in all this is most likely involved with some kind of smuggling ring. With only the events from Sonic's first case as our source for this reasoning, we're really not in a good place to prove that to be true. However, being how we know that the mastermind is truly a calculating person, it's probably not too much of a stretch to believe he might be in a crime spree as complex and risky as smuggling. I mean, customs and all that these days are pretty much on the ball with it comes to attempts at smuggling. It'd take a very calculative mind to actually conduct such illegal business without the fear of getting caught."

"In other words, you just compiled a list of things that we found to be a highly possible truth but lacking the concrete evidence to make it definite," Silver summarized once he noted that Tails was done with his long summation. "I don't know if we can get even one of those things answered by tomorrow, but I guess we can take a stab at it. However, the only way we're ever going to get a good chance at some answers is to ask somebody from the inside about everything. While I know that Shadow has put Ace Sleuth in protective custody, I doubt that he would know so much about either his boss or his intentions. The man hardly seems like the type to be the mastermind's right-hand man or at least trusted advisor."

"…But maybe he'll be able to tell us if there's anybody living or even just visiting the city that's quite close to their leader!" Sonic suggested as the thought suddenly crossed his mind. "Considering the position he's currently in, I doubt he'll put up much of a resistance in giving us the information. And if he does, then we can play the revenge card by reminding him who it was who ordered him to kill his fiancée."

"I rather we avoid trying to guilt and anger the man into answering our questions if possible," the silver furred hedgehog replied as he shook his head slightly at the thought. "It's not a tactic I'm personally fond of integrating into my questionings unless circumstances dictate otherwise. However, I do admit that your idea sounds like the best course of action, especially when you consider how tight on time we are in order to be obtaining answers for the LK-9 Incident. Now we just need to wait for Vector to come back so we can ask him to take us to where the former senior detective is being held. Apart from Shadow, I've heard that he's the only one who knows where the man is."

"Unfortunately for you, Ace isn't high enough on the chain of command to know of anybody of such high standards," a voice different from the three suddenly spoke up in a calm and cool tone. "Thankfully for you all, I just happen to be a much better choice in reciting to you the information that you seek."

Startled by the sudden appearance of a different voice, the three people immediately turned their attention towards the door. Once in their sights, they noticed two people standing past the doorway. One of them was clearly Vector what with his rather tall and burly frame hard to miss even in a crowded area. The other person was a cat in pure ebon fur and piercing ruby red eyes that both Sonic and Tails immediately recognized despite having not seen those distinguishing features for two long and hectic days.

"S-Salemand!" Sonic exclaimed as his mind finally registered who was standing in front of the doorway. "Is that really you?"

"Long time no see, Sonic," the cat simply answered in a cool tone as he crossed his arms and gave off what looked to be like a cheeky grin.

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring. Without any concrete proof, however, this ends up to be nothing but conjecture at this point.


	26. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 12

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story that I'm almost completely done with. I can't believe this is getting closer and closer to the end of everything. Yay! Initially, I had planned to make this particular chapter along with the next one into just one whole chapter, but then it would seem way too long and to the point where it felt like I'm just adding filler to an already complete chapter. And besides, the main subject in this chapter and that of the next one are different enough to warrant their own chapter. However, I do hope that this chapter will be exciting enough for you all who have been waiting ever so patiently for me to post a new update to this story.

Today in court is going to be the final showdown between rookie defense attorney and a thirty-year veteran prosecutor. Who's going to come out on top unscathed after all this? Or will either of them manage to get out of this unscathed at all? I guess only the end of this trial can provide us all with those answers. And by us, I include myself also since I really have no idea what's going to happen next. But yeah, that's the fun part for me in writing, I'm like you readers in that I'm not overly sure what's going to happen next yet are the actual writer providing the storyline in my particular story!

But yeah, this is going to be a long but interesting chapter, so I hope that you all enjoy it. And for those of you who just don't happen to like extremely long chapters because they feel like it's a hassle to read, then I hope I managed to change your minds somewhat. Trust me; I know how it feels to see a very long chapter and wanting to skip over parts. However, some stories on here are just that good that you have to read the whole chapter simply because you want to. I really hope that I've given most of you that feeling with this mystery story.

Well, I'll just go ahead and leave you all with the very long list of both evidence and profiles. Then again, a long evidence list and profiles list is meant to signify the increasing difficulty that Sonic and Tails are having what with having to keep track of so much evidence pertaining to the case. To be perfectly honest with you all, most of the cases on here have been taken by inspiration from cases from the Phoenix Wright games. I just gave them my own flair and twist to it. Anyway, please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. I always read over them and take into consideration any praise or constructive criticism that you might have that you'd feel will help me with my overall writing. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing with the forensics report brought by Knuckles. It shows that the blood belonged to Ms. Mae and proving that she was at the lighthouse the moment she was murdered.

Fake Murder Weapon: An idea conjured up by Tails while exploring the lighthouse. After hearing Charmy's testimony, the thought of a fake weapon being in play is now a reality. A fake gun was found by the bee inside a clock and bears Shadow's fingerprints. Being that Shadow never entered the lighthouse before, this is proof that this was the gun seen at the docks the moment after the 'murder' witnessed by Amy Rose.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

Bullet Casing: A casing found on the lighthouse balcony and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The ballistic markings on it matched exactly with the bullet that was extracted from Ms. Mae. It also proves that the gun found on the docks was actually used and moved from the lighthouse.

Doctor Reports: Paperwork found in the lighthouse living room and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. They prove that Mr. Pryce visits the doctor every week for his condition. They also seem to indicate that he lives with a caretaker because of the fact that such complicated reports were sent to his house.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some prior knowledge of the fake murder taking place on the Mobius Docks. While a handwriting analysis could not be done on the contents because of the lack of a reasonably suspicious person to compare it to, Mr. Pryce's fingerprints were found all over it.

Firecracker: The Red Paper found stuck on the side of the Mobius Docks and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. Tests prove that it was once a Firecracker before it had exploded, and the black mark on it was from the explosion. The tape that is still on it has some burned fibers that belonged to a rope.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

Fingerprints: Prints found in the lighthouse by Charmy Bee. They were on a cup shoved all the way towards the back of a kitchen cupboard as if in a haste with a cup of tea still in it. This proves that it was used recently. They belong to the victim in the case, Ms. Flora Mae, but Vector recognized the prints from the LK-9 Incident and realized they actually belonged to Ms. Lois Pryce. This proves that these two people are actually one.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. There are four sections in the case file that have yet to be reviewed by the two.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring. Without any concrete proof, however, this ends up to be nothing but conjecture at this point.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius and using his current name as an alias. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It is suspected that he might know something concerning the LK-9 Incident.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern two years ago.

Flora Mae: The victim in this case who was a prosecutor at the local prosecutor's office. She was proven to have been at the lighthouse at the moment of her death. Because of her fingerprints found in the lighthouse, it has been proven that she is in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Max's sister who has been thought to have been killed in the LK-9 Incident.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who seems to have a mental problem and trapped with a seven-year-old mind. Through excellent execution of evidence, Sonic and Tails have thrown doubt on the thought that he is actually mentally challenged and is just as capable as any other man his age.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

Charmy Bee: a young eight-year-old bee who happens to be employed with the Chaotix Detective Agency. Apparently, he was sent to investigate the lighthouse by a third party who had employed the agency to do so. As such, he has arrived at the courthouse in order to testify about this matter at the very last minute.

Ace Sleuth: A former senior detective from the local Precinct who is now behind bars for having murdered his fiancée. Since his conviction, Shadow has had the man living at an undisclosed location and under witness protection because of the potential importance he might have in solving the LK-9 Case.

Leukis Kruger (luke-is crew-grr): Salemand's eighteen-year-old younger albino lion brother who has been afflicted with the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome. He is apparently a member of Interpol with his name simply a code name. According to Salemand, he has been missing for a few days. As accidentally revealed by Vector, his real name is actually Leon.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 26: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 12<strong>

"Well, today's the day where we'll find out whether or not Mr. Maxwell Pryce is the one to have killed Prosecutor Flora Mae," Shadow replied with a sigh as he sat on one of the court lobby chairs. He was currently sipping away at a cup of water while looking rather calm about everything. However, it was clear to Sonic and Tails that he was nervous about what was going to take place today. "Hmm, maybe you should start considering officially changing the name of the victim to Lois Pryce being that we've established the two women to be the same person. However you wish to pursue that matter, I suppose her brother can be the one and only true murderer if we want everybody to believe me to be innocent in this. I really hope you two didn't go wasting your entire night last night asking around about the LK-9 Incident. If that's the case, then I think I'm better off with self-representation. I don't want to be defended by an ill-prepared attorney on the last day of this trial."

"Stop worrying about that, Shadow," Sonic replied with a dismissive wave of his hand before crossing them. He made sure to not say anything about their constant digging into the five-year-old case and neglecting to study up on the current case at hand. "You may look calm but your rambling kind of gives it away that you're feeling nervous. I promise you that we have everything we need to get you acquitted today from this crime. All we really need is to hear Mr. Pryce's testimony once more as to why he can't possibly be the main suspect or at least some semblance of an alibi for that morning. I doubt that he'd be able to cook up a believable story what with how we put him in the middle of all this during yesterday's court proceedings. He probably didn't even think this far ahead!"

"Don't start getting cocky about all this, Sonic," Tails warned as he cast a stern gaze at his older brother. "Don't forget who you're dealing with on the prosecution's side. You may have made great progress through Mephiles's tough offensive front, but don't let that lead you to thinking he can't come up with another road block against you. We already saw how quick he was to adapt to the appearance of a surprise witness yesterday. And if Mr. Pryce really isn't the mentally challenged person he's been claiming to be, then he's done a good job for these five years acting like one. I wouldn't put it past him to have created a reasonably believable alibi in just one day's worth of time."

"Geez, you don't have to worry so much over this, Tails," the cobalt hedgehog simply replied as he gave the same dismissive wave to his little brother. Apparently, he felt that they were no longer in any kind of danger in regards to losing the case. "I'm sure that we have this case all figured out and in our favor despite Mephiles's terrible and borderline legal ruthlessness. I'd have to be a complete idiot of a defense attorney to manage to lose at this point even when against a prosecutor as ruthless as that crazy old man."

"I guess I better start saying my prayers then," the ebon hedgehog stated in a teasingly sarcastic tone. He then added with a smile, "You're starting to get cocky here, and everybody who knows you knows that you tend to do idiotic things when in cocky mode. Remember back in middle school when you thought you could jump over that big puddle of water in your track race? I don't think I've ever seen you so drenched in my entire life."

"…I think I'm actually going to take you up on your suggestion and have you commit to self-representation today," the attorney grumbled out with a pout upon being reminded about his cocky-induced idiotic behavior and a memory that he would clearly prefer to forget. He then said after quickly changing his attitude, "But yeah, we better make sure to keep our ears open for anything that might have some kind of connection to the LK-9 Incident. If we're going to want to bring it up before the statute of limitations runs out on us, then it can only be during today's proceedings that we can do so."

"Just keep in mind what Salemand told us last night," the two tailed fox reminded as he went over to a nearby water cooler and poured himself some water. "If we play our cards right and use the prosecution's moves to our advantage, we just might be able to hear what he has to say about that night we were all kidnapped. He's probably the only person left who can shed any kind of real light to that case."

"Ugh, don't even remind me about what that cat said last night," the defense attorney replied with a groan of annoyance reverberating from the back of this throat. "I still don't understand why he has to go and make everything so complicated."

_Last Night_

"What are you doing here, Salemand?" Sonic asked as his mind finally managed to get past the moment of surprise upon seeing the ebon cat standing by Vector's doorway with said crocodile standing behind him. "Aren't you supposed to be busy trying to figure out just where your brother's at?"

"I've decided to leave that job to the Chaotix Detective Agency for tonight," Salemand simply responded as he moved out of the doorway so that Vector could enter his office. "I've already pretty much exhausted all the leads I've obtained on my own thus far. Besides, Vector said he had something important he wanted me to come over and talk about. I believe he told me that there were two certain people in here who wanted to ask me some questions about a certain something. It wouldn't happen to be you and Tails, would it?"

"Vector, could you please tell me just who this person is?" Silver asked with a look of confusion on his face as the crocodile walked past him and behind the desk. "I don't think I remember seeing you hanging out with this guy before."

"He happens to be a good friend right now wrapped up in a matter too sensitive to just loosely talk about," the prosecutor merely stated as he immediately took an interest in a foreign file now resting on his desk courtesy of the detective. "Regardless of how much I trust you Silver, I'm afraid I can't really say much more than that."

"Salemand, do you mind if I speak directly with you on something important?" Tails suddenly asked without bothering with a greeting. "We're kind of short on time and don't really feel like beating around the bush tonight."

"My, it sounds like you've got something really important you want to get off your mind," the black cat replied with a sort of amusement in his tone as he shifted his attention towards the two tailed fox. "However, I have a sneaking suspicion that I already know just what it is you want to talk to me about."

"Then I suppose we can save some time here and just cut to the chase," the young fox simply responded. "Could you please tell us anything you know about the LK-9 Incident? I have reasonable suspicion to believe that it has something to do with your line of work. Am I wrong to assume that to be the truth?"

"…I had a feeling that's what this was going to be about," the red eyed cat simply replied with a small sigh after staying quiet for a few seconds. "You want to know if I happen to know anything regarding that case. Vector already told me that he told you and Sonic about my line of work since my good name was being put under reasonable scrutiny on the case you're working on. While I will say that I have nothing to do with your current case apart from having hired the Chaotix Detective Agency to search the lighthouse, don't delude yourself into thinking that it'll grant you a ticket to information that is otherwise confidential to you."

"And what the heck is that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked with an eyebrow raised in confusion along with a suspicious glare cast at the cat. "Are you or are you not going to tell us anything regarding that case from five years ago? I think Tails and I deserve any kind of information you have since we were directly involved with the case as kidnapping victims. That and our current case has led us back to the very place where we were held captive until the time we were discovered."

"Unfortunately, that's hardly any grounds for me to start divulging you with confidential information. While I do admit that you deserve to know whatever it is I know about that case, my line of work finds it necessary to keep it all under wraps. Under no circumstances should I speak about the case to anybody who's not affiliated with my line of work. If I were given a pardon by a higher-up or forced to divulge the information that's beyond their legal control, then that would be a different story."

"And do you think you can tell us just what exactly is this line of work you're involved with?" the silver furred hedgehog asked as he was clearly starting to have his suspicions on Salemand. "Do you happen to work with law enforcement or something? I find it hard to believe that you would know something about a case as sensitive as the LK-9 Incident unless you're either working with the law or one of the culprits who're responsible for that mess. Mind telling me which one of those choices it is?"

"How about I go ahead and keep you in the dark about that for a little while?" Salemand calmly answered which only furthered the detective's suspicions against him. "If you keep careful attention to the case Sonic's currently working on, then I'm sure you'll soon be able to figure out just exactly who I am. Of course, that all depends on how well Sonic and Tails perform tomorrow on the last day of the murder trial."

"What do you mean by that?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with his head cocked to the side in question. While he would usually become quite aggravated upon receiving such answers, he seemed unusually relaxed during the conversation.

"What I mean is that you might end up accidentally exploiting a loophole that was purposefully created by my employers for specific reasons," the ebon cat simply responded. "Since I'm currently within the jurisdiction that you work under, I have to abide by their rules. As such, you can pull out as much information as you want out of me provided you can give me a reasonable answer as to why I should answer you under the rules of your jurisdiction. That is what I meant from what I said earlier."

"Geez, you really like to make things complicated for us, don't you?" the attorney groaned out as he rolled his eyes at how hard it was to get the information he wanted from the cat. "How the heck are we supposed to make you bend to the will of our judicial system so that you'll be able to tell us whatever it is we want to know without fear of retribution from your higher-ups? That sounds pretty impossible."

"Think of it however you want to, but that's the only way you're going to make me open my mouth about the LK-9 Incident. Now that we have that out of the way, do you mind if I asked how the search for my little brother is going, Vector?"

_Back to Present Moment_

"Sonic," Tails called out to Sonic who was currently in a daydreaming state. He then continued on as he decided to add some light pokes, "Come on; snap out of it! It's almost time for court to start."

"Huh?" Sonic dumbly replied as he finally snapped out of his thoughts and noticed that Shadow was no longer sitting next to him. Instead, he was being escorted by the court bailiff into the courtroom. "Oh, s-sorry about that, Tails. Didn't know I was spacing out there. How long was I out for?"

"I'd say about a good couple of minutes," the two tailed fox explained as he walked over to the trash bin and threw away his empty cup. He then said as he headed towards the courtroom doors, "Shadow was trying to get your attention, but he decided to ignore you when he figured you weren't coming back to us anytime soon. Anyway, you better start getting your act together before you go into the courtroom. I'm sure Mephiles is going to jump on you the moment he sees you like you are now. That's really not what we want to have happen at this stage of the game where every one of our moves needs to count.

"And don't go forgetting about the Bag of Bricks that Silver delivered to us when he got here," he reminded as he stopped just short of going through the doors. "He said that it was discovered when the police first dragged the bottom of the river in search of Ms. Mae's body. Except for the burnt areas at the end of the rope that kept the bag tied shut and the bunch of common household bricks, forensics found nothing of notable interest from it. Still, he thought we might find some other use for it, so don't go forgetting to bring it in with you in case it does end up to be very important evidence. I'm sure he had to pull some strings to bring that to us, so don't throw away his efforts by leaving it out here."

"Thanks for giving me an ever so wonderful pep talk," the hedgehog grumbled out as he collected himself before throwing away his cup and following his brother into the courtroom. He continued to grumble to himself as he picked up the heavy beige bag that was resting next to him, "It's not like I need to remember what kind of man I'm going to be dealing with today. I swear; just dealing with him for one day is already more than enough for a lifetime! And it's not as though I'm not going to succeed in looking like an idiot what with me just deciding to drag in a random Bag of Bricks into court."

With more inaudible grumbles leaving his mouth, he finally made his way into the courtroom where most of the gallery were already seated and waiting for the Judge to come in. As usual, Mephiles was already situated on his side of the courtroom and looking more than prepared to handle whatever would be thrown at him. Either that or he was just putting up an offensive front, but the chances of that being the truth are astronomically low.

Apart from the frightening sight of the prosecutor, he also noticed two familiar faces sitting within the gallery, Senior Detective Silver Hedgehog and Prosecutor Vector Crocodile. Apparently, they managed to find some time off of their no doubt busy schedule in order to see the outcome of this case. Either that or they wanted to see if Sonic would really be able to bring about the LK-9 Incident in court today as he had been saying he would try to do last night. Either way, it was a comforting sight for him to see friends behind him and most likely rooting for his victory today.

However, he had little time to relish in the thought of his friends and allies watching his performance as the Judge decided to enter the courtroom at that time. Sonic had just barely managed to get to his rightful place before His Honor sat took a seat at his bench and began the day's court proceedings.

"Court is now in session!" the Judge announced as he banged at his gavel in order to obtain everybody's attention. "Today shall be the final day that the case against Shadow Hedgehog shall be heard, so I hope for the court's sake that both the defense and prosecution are ready to prove their respective claims."

"The defense is ready, Your Honor," Sonic announced in a confident tone as Tails nodded his head in agreement.

"The prosecution has been ready since the day this charade of a trial began," Mephiles simply said as he crossed his arms in his trademark defiant manner. "I still don't understand why the court has been so willing to entertain every single asinine assumption that comes flying out of the defense's and his assistant's mouths. Although I can probably garner a guess at that he's starting to become insane from the stress what with him deciding to bring in a rather heavy-looking bag filled with something mysterious.

"However, that's not what we're here to argue about," he continued on as he calmly ignored the very annoyed glare he received from the hedgehog for his comment. "Rather, I will show today that the defense's fruitless endeavors to earn their client an acquittal have been nothing but a hopeless dream!"

"Very well; then I suppose I better get this trial under way," the Judge responded with a nod of his head. "Yesterday, we suspended proceedings after hearing the defense announce the witness, Mr. Maxwell Pryce, as a person of interest in the murder of Prosecutor Flora Mae. However, they have also proven that the victim was in actuality the witness's sister, Ms. Lois Pryce, the woman who was believed to have been killed at the start of the LK-9 Incident almost five years ago!"

"Unfortunately for them, I don't see the importance on what exactly the identity of our victim is," the old prosecutor quickly countered. "After all, the fact still remains that we're left with a victim who has been unjustly killed. A name is quite meaningless; the end result of any given trial is the most important."

"I object, Your Honor!" the cobalt hedgehog immediately exclaimed as he felt this was an avenue worth pursuing. "It's a pretty big deal when we as defenders of the law chance upon the fact that the victim wasn't who she claimed to have been. It hints at the thought that she might've been in involved with something illegal before she was killed. Prosecutor Mephiles, you can't just go about deciding by yourself whether or not that's an unimportant fact without further looking into the matter!"

"Don't try to impress me with pretty words and meaningless drabble boy. While I do agree with you that the matter of the victim's name needs to be further looked into, it doesn't concern the current case at hand. The only question we need to answer now is who murdered her. Anything else is but a senseless distraction."

"I feel the same way, as well," the Judge agreed with Mephiles as he shook his head at Sonic. "Objection overruled. If you do feel that this has some importance Mr. Sonic, then I suggest that you delve into it on your own time."

"Jeez, not even five minutes into today's proceedings and you've already been shot down," Tails groaned out quietly as he gave off a light pout. His older brother chose to ignore the comment and simply concentrate on what was coming next.

"Now if neither the defense of prosecution has anything else of importance to say, I would like to begin today by calling in our witness from yesterday," His Honor stated as he paused for a second and glanced at both sides of the courtroom. "After all, the defense has pointed him out to be a person of interest. It'd only be fair if we heard straight from him whether or not he has an alibi for the time of the murder."

Without saying another word, the old man motioned for the bailiff to bring in Max so they could hear him testify once more today as the entire court waited in silence. It only lasted a couple of seconds before a familiar eager voice broke the silence.

"Oh, do you want my help on another mystery?" Max's easily recognizable eager voice echoed throughout the courtroom as he was escorted to the witness stand. "I guess I must be doing a really good job if you keep calling me in to help."

"Sounds like it's time for our epic face-off between us and the true murderer," Sonic murmured under his breath so that only his little brother could hear him. "We're definitely going to have an interesting day today. Let's see how well Max's alibi holds up when faced with the evidence we have for him!"

"Welcome back, Max," the Judge politely greeted the mentally ill man as he seemed to remember how the witness liked to be called by his first name. "I'm afraid we need your help again on the case we're working on. I hope you don't mind us asking you to answer a few more questions for us."

"Oh, I don't mind at all!" the witness eagerly replied with a smile so wide that it could potentially have lit a dark room. "I just love it when I'm involved with mysteries and all that. So what do you want to ask me?"

"For starters, how about you tell us why it is that you couldn't have been the one to have murdered…Ms. Mae," Mephiles replied after hesitating for a moment at the victim's name. Nobody could honestly blame him for that since the victim was confirmed to be acting as two different people. Either that or he really did have a heart and did not want to tell Max that his sister really was alive all this time before being killed. But what were the chances of an old hedgehog like him having a kind and caring soul…?

"Are you all saying that you think I killed her?" Max asked as he cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Why would you all think I would do something like that? I'm not a bully or anything like that."

"Well, you can blame the defense for leading us all to thinking that you might have killed the victim," His Honor replied as he shot a semi-harsh glare at Sonic who thought the action to have been completely unwarranted. "However, it is important for the court to know why you could not have been the one to have killed her. After all, we like to make sure that all our witnesses have nothing to do with the crime at hand."

"…I guess that makes sense. Okay, I'll tell everybody why I could not have been the one to have hurt the woman."

_**Max's Alibi**_

I was alone in my house all morning. The only time that someone ever talked to me was when someone called me. Nothing else caught my attention for the rest of the morning until I heard the police sirens!

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Hmm, and you've delivered to us another short but succinct testimony," the Judge stated once the testimony was heard. "And it's almost the exact same thing as what was said yesterday. So you say that you were the only one in the lighthouse that entire morning. Do you have any way of telling us that what you said really is the truth?"

"I'm sorry, but there's no way to tell you all for sure that I was alone," Max admitted as he shrugged his shoulders in a carefree manner. "Like I said, I was alone all morning. There isn't anybody who could tell you what I just said."

"I suppose that was to be expected," His Honor responded with a small frown appearing on his lips. "And I highly doubt you have anything like a security camera hanging around your house since I'm sure it would've been discovered by either the detectives or the Chaotix Detective Agency. Still, I suppose there's always room for doubt. Very well; the witness is all yours, Mr. Sonic."

"Just please make sure you don't go about wasting our precious time with pointless questions," Mephiles warned in a half-hearted fashion as if he knew his warning was going to be thrown out the window. "However, I have a feeling that you're going to somehow manage to bore us to death with redundancies."

"I suppose it all depends on your definition of what's a waste of time and redundancy," Sonic responded with a challenging smile gracing his lips. "I find that asking questions is the only thing I can do when given a testimony such as this."

"I suggest that you don't start getting too cocky; you'll fall harder than you ever thought possible," the prosecutor said with a somewhat evil smirk gracing his face. "That and I just might accidentally step all over you while you're as flat as a pancake, although I must admit the thought hadn't crossed my mind more than a few times."

"What did you just say?_!_" the cobalt hedgehog growled as he angrily balled his hands into fists.

"Just ignore him and get on with the cross-examination, Sonic," Tails murmured under his breath as he sensed his older brother was about to do or say something stupid. He then added as he placed a calming hand on the other's arm, "We don't have a lot of time to waste if you're planning on trying to bring up the LK-9 Incident to this courtroom today. You're going to have to get this case over with as quickly as possible. Just ignore him and concentrate on getting Shadow acquitted of these charges."

"…So long as that old prosecutor keeps his loud mouth shut and doesn't make any more remarks like that," the cobalt hedgehog whispered back as he took a deep breath and regained his professional attitude. "I'm telling you; his rough attitude and overconfidence is going to be his undoing one of these days."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Max, what you've just told us has been pretty much the same thing that you testified to yesterday," Sonic started off by stating the obvious as his previous bout of anger held no hint of ever existing in his voice. "Even so, I would like to ask you this question. Are you certain that you were all alone in your lighthouse for the entire morning that day? It's very important that you're sure about this."

"I'm as sure as sure can be about that!" Max stated excitedly with an eager look on his face as he clapped his hands together. "Nobody ever once visited me that morning. That's usually how it is every day."

"If you want to find a contradiction, I suggest that you look elsewhere," Mephiles quickly cut in before either of the two had a chance to say more. "You have yet to show us any proof that he wasn't alone that morning."

"If that's how you want to play, then I can easily say that you don't have any proof that says otherwise," the cobalt hedgehog countered as he tried to keep up his line of attack. "In order to have been murdered, she'd need to have been with at least one other person at the time of her death. The only person we find who would fit that bill is Max."

"And where's your evidence that he's the one to have killed her?" the prosecutor asked with intrigue clear in his voice. "Regardless whether or not he was alone that morning, this is the true question that needs to be answered. Unless you're withholding something from the courts, I've never heard of such damning evidence. So indulge us; where is this evidence that proves what you're claiming is in fact the truth?"

"Well, we've already proven yesterday that Ms. Mae was killed at the lighthouse balcony because of her Blood being found on the railing along with a Bullet Casing on the balcony floor," Tails stated as he tried to answer the question posed to them. "And it has been proven through Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report that she was killed on that morning three days ago. By Max's own testimony, he's the only one who had both the time and means to have killed her since he was the only one in the lighthouse."

"While your reasoning is all well and good, you have yet to provide an answer to my original question," the old hedgehog simply bit back as he seemed less than impressed by what had just been said. "My original question was whether or not you had any evidence that showed that only Max could be the true murderer in this case. While admittedly impressive, all you've managed to do was provide an explanation that's only meant to persuade the court that your line of thought can be the only correct one. Do you have any concrete evidence that it was in fact our witness here who murdered the victim?"

Instead of answering the question, the two tailed fox simply stared back in silence as he could not come up with an answer. Rather than blatantly admitting that they did not have any evidence, he would rather try and act tough and say nothing so as to not admit to everybody that they had nothing. Even Sonic could tell what his little brother was doing and willingly kept his mouth shut. That and he honestly had nothing better to add would not make them sound even more like the idiots the prosecutor was no doubt trying to portray them as.

"Judging by their silence, I would guess that the defense doesn't have any evidence of that nature," the Judge responded as he shook his head at the lack of any suitable response. "As such, I must ask that they desist from their line of questioning and move on to whatever other questions they wish to ask the witness."

"Yes, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog said as he could not help but notice the terribly smug look on Mephiles's face. "Then let's go ahead and move onto the part where Max told us about having received a call on the morning of the murder. You've already explained to us yesterday that you left that part out of your testimony then because you thought it wasn't important. However, do you think you can tell us today just what it was you were talking about and to who you were talking to?"

"And how exactly are the details of his phone call going to help us figure out whether or not he is the true murderer in this case?" Mephiles asked as he raised one of his eyebrows a bit at the defense's question. "While I hardly believe a man like the witness here would be able to commit murder, his phone call couldn't possibly hold any kind of importance to what you're trying to prove."

"I must admit that I find little point in asking such a question," His Honor admitted with a nod of his head. "Is there any specific reason that pertains to this trial that you want to know the contents of Max's phone call that morning?"

"Well, he did lie to us yesterday about not having received any kind of outside contact that entire morning," the defense attorney explained. "It's because of that I feel that we deserve to know what was said during that call. Even if our witness here acts like a seven-year-old, I doubt that he would simply lie about something as harmlessly simple as that."

"…I suppose you do pose a somewhat plausible reason there," the old man said after giving it a bit of thought. "I still feel that this line of questioning doesn't hold much merit to the case, but I suppose previous actions from the witness's part deem it somewhat of a necessity. Max, do you mind telling us who you were talking to on the phone and what was discussed?" he asked as he directed his attention to the quiet but eager Max."

"I guess I can do that," Max replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, it isn't like I was talking about anything important."

_**New Statement**_

I don't know the person who called, but they said something was going to happen soon outside at the docks.

_**End New Statement**_

"Someone called and told you that something was going to happen later at the docks?" Sonic repeated as he raised his eyebrow at this new statement. Even the Judge seemed to have a bit of a hard time swallowing this particular statement as the truth. "I…must admit that sounds a lot more than just a little strange. Did the person only call to give that warning or did they give out some explicit details as to what was happening?"

"Uh, they only told me that something was going to happen soon," Max responded after taking a second to think about it. "I knew that he was telling the truth when I heard the police coming like twenty minutes later. If it helps you in any way, I think it was a man who was talking. I couldn't really tell since his voice sounded all weird and stuff. It was like he was a machine or something."

"That sounds a lot like somebody was using a vocal scrambler during the call," Tails suggested as he gave it some thought. "I suppose that would make sense since the person was admitting to a murder, or a murder-set-up in our case, that was about to happen just outside. But why would they go through the trouble to tell you about it?"

"I guess they just wanted to be nice and make sure I didn't go outside and get caught up in whatever was going to happen," the witness suggested in his child-like manner that suggested he had no idea as to the reason himself. "Or maybe they wanted to make sure I knew what that strange bag outside was going to be used for. That would make sense if you think about it like that, don't you think so?"

"Wait a minute; what's this bag you're talking about, Max?" Tails asked with eyebrows raised at the strange question. "I don't remember ever hearing the police finding any kind of bag of sorts at the scene of the crime when they checked. Sonic and I even checked the scene ourselves and the side of the docks and saw nothing like that."

"Oh, I guess then that I'm the only one who had a chance to see it," he replied with a smile and shrug of his shoulders. "I'm amazed nobody was able to see something like that. After I was done with my breakfast, I went up to the balcony for a little bit. That's when I saw the bag just hanging on the side of the docks. The person never told me where it was; I just happened to see it while on the balcony."

"You saw the bag all the way from your spot at the balcony?" the cobalt hedgehog asked in a combination of amazement and skepticism in his tone. "You sure have a pretty good set of eyes on you to have seen that."

"Yeah, I'm pretty proud about my eyesight. When I'd be at the family farm, I would help my grandpa spot small bugs and such that destroy his crops. He'd like to nickname me the Eagle because of that!"

"As fascinating as it is to hear about something like the witness's great sense of sight and his childhood, I fail to find how this all pertains with the case," Mephiles stated with an aggravated sigh and his arms seemingly crossed tighter than usual. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that you don't have any evidence that shows your claim of Max here being the murderer. At this point, you're merely just trying to waste our time while trying to come up with a nonexistent answer to your ridiculous supposition."

"The prosecution raises a very valid point that even I must wholeheartedly agree with," the Judge agreed as he cast a very harsh glare at the defense attorney. "Mr. Sonic, I'm truly starting to get annoyed with your pointless questions. It does not seem to be going anywhere nor is it producing any relevant and worthwhile information.

"We asked for this testimony because you had posed to the court a possibility of our witness being the actual murderer," he explained as his tone started to acquire a sort of harsh seriousness to it. "Since the time you've started the cross-examination, you have been pursuing statements made by the witness that have no correlation whatsoever to your claim from yesterday. I will ask you this question once and only once. Does what Max just testify to hold any importance to your claim that he is in fact the true murder in this case? I warn you that if you say yes and fail to provide any kind of reason, you will be harshly penalized by this court for obstruction of justice."

"Ob-obstruction of justice?_!_" Sonic dumbly repeated as he tried to digest the Judge's rather harsh response to the current cross-examination. He was, for lack of a better word, stunned at how grave things were turning out to be. "B-but questions are all I have, Your Honor! I can't be expected to simply answer the court's questions head-on if I can only enter the truth by travelling through back roads."

"Unfortunately for you, your so-called back roads seem to be leading us all even further from the truth," the old prosecutor responded in a tone that reflected a sort of sick happiness at what was happening. "Today just happens to be a clear attempt at your part on doing so. This is something that the Judge should have enacted the moment you started with your idiotic waste of times two days ago! Oh well, I suppose it's better late than never."

"S-Sonic, what are you going to do?" Tails asked in a low whisper as he was shocked at what was happening. "The Judge looks very serious about this. You're already in the very center of the theoretical tornado of fire. One wrong step in either direction and you're literally going to be burned out of the courtroom!"

"…That Mephiles purposefully kept quiet this whole time so that I would be walking right into his trap!" the cobalt hedgehog growled out as he glared daggers into said old hedgehog who simply countered back with a smug stare. "He's hardly made a single objection since the cross-examination started. He knew things were going to turn out this bad for me and kept quiet so I would fall right for his trap!"

"Trap or not, you better give the Judge an answer quickly!" the two tailed fox stated as he cast a quick glance at the Judge and saw him grow increasingly impatient. "I don't think he's going to wait for you much longer."

"You're not helping!" he spat out in a tone that sounded like anger but was really just desperation. Thankfully for him, his little brother clearly understood the easily misunderstood tone. "Just give me a couple of seconds to think…!"

"Mr. Sonic," His Honor said in a harsh warning tone. "If you don't provide an answer in the next few seconds, the court will consider your silence as an indication of you putting an end to your cross-examination."

"… … …The defense shall confidently stand by their actions and emphatically claim that the witness's previous statements hold great importance to the case!" Sonic finally decided to say as he banged at his desk for added good measure after silently debating with himself for a few more seconds. "It's with that said that I ask the court to add Max's previous statement to his official testimony!"

"…Foolish boy," Mephiles said with a disappointed yet amused growl reverberating from his throat. "I'd thought that you'd turn tail and run from this failure of a cross-examination with your dignity intact when given the chance. I suppose the only way to make you see the utter fruitlessness of your actions is by disgracing you out of this court!"

"I pray for your sake Mr. Sonic that you're not merely trying to pursue a pointless topic of interest," the Judge stated before pounding at his gavel. "The court recognizes the defense's request! Max, could you please add your previous statement to your testimony?"

"If you think it's important, than sure," Max agreed with a shrug of his shoulders, an action he had seemed content on performing often lately.

_**New Statement**_

I clearly saw a bag that morning hanging on the side of the docks from the lighthouse balcony.

_**End New Statement**_

"So you saw this bag that everybody else somehow managed to miss all the way from your balcony," Sonic repeated just to make sure he had heard correctly. "How easy would you say it was for you to have seen it from where you were?"

"Irrelevant!" Mephiles quickly objected with a pound of his fist on his desk. "Your Honor, I ask that you please remove Mr. Sonic from the courtroom for obstruction of justice! It's clear to us now that he merely seems content to waste what little time we have left for this case with trivial and redundant matters."

"Objection!" the cobalt hedgehog quickly bit back with such fierceness in his tone. He was not about to be beaten out of the court without at least putting up a last stand. "The Judge has already given me permission to allow the witness's last statement be made official to the court. It would only stand to reason that I'd be allowed to question this new statement before you even have a chance to deem it irrelevant!"

"Oh, that's such an objectionable statement; I could literally just cry over hearing it!" the old prosecutor countered back with a scoff and strong sarcasm dripping from his words. "So what if the Judge allowed your motion for Max's previous statement to be put into his official testimony? I don't ever remember hearing him say to you that you'll be allowed to question the witness after that. All he said was that you'll be held for obstruction of justice if it holds no clear meaning to the current issue!"

"And how do you expect me to do that if I'm not even allowed to question him on his new statement? Hearing the witness's statements is only receiving half of the story; the act of me asking them questions then provides the other half. What I've just asked the witness cannot be dismissed as irrelevant until he has answered my question in full!"

"That's enough!" the Judge immediately cut in between the ensuing argument with loud and repeated bangs of his gavel. "Both the prosecution and the defense shall desist with their argument! While I do find that the new statement the witness has made is hardly of any relevance, it would be premature of me to automatically disregard it without first hearing his explanation for making such a statement. As such, I'll allow the defense's question to be asked. However, I warn you that this will be your last question before I call an end to this tedious cross-examination. Is that understood?"

"…Thank you, Your Honor," Sonic thanked the old man as he nodded his head in understanding at the conditions laid out before him. Tails stood silently next to him with a happy smirk on his face while waiting for the moment when he might be needed to make a last-minute save. "Now then, let me get back to where I left off before the prosecution interrupted me. Max, how easy would you say it was for you to have seen this bag from your assumed position at your lighthouse balcony?"

"Oh, I'd say that it was more than easy that morning!" Max happily replied as if he were a child running rampant in a candy store. "There really wasn't anything going on that could've made it hard for me to see the bag."

"But then wouldn't that mean that you actually saw what was taking place at the same time?" the two tailed fox asked as he cocked his head in confusion. "I think it'd be pretty hard to miss something like that taking place."

"Sorry, I went back inside after a couple of minutes," the witness explained with a childishly apologetic look on his face. "I did see the defendant walking along the docks but nothing more than that."

"Are you happy now, Mr. Sonic?" Mephiles asked with a smirk of amusement gracing his lips. It was almost as if he were inwardly prematurely celebrating his victory before it was even officially announced. "You got to ask your ever pointless question and have received an equally pointless answer. How does it feel to have personally dug your own grave in this trial and fall face-first into it? Your Honor; I ask that you please now throw the defense out of the courtroom and hold him for obstruction of justice! It's clear that he has had nothing to go on since the moment he walked in."

"I did warn you, Mr. Sonic," the Judge stated as he looked at the cobalt hedgehog in disappointment. "I'm afraid I'll have to call an end to your cross-examination and throw you out of the courtroom for obstruction of justice."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Before you go and throw me out, may I be allowed to say just one more thing?" Sonic asked in a remarkably calm voice despite being told his cross-examination was over along with being thrown out.

"I don't see why not," Mephiles responded with an amused shrug of his shoulders. "After all, this might be the last time you'll ever get a chance to set foot into a court of law as a defense attorney. Why not go out with a memorable bang?"

"What is it that you want to say, Mr. Sonic?" the Judge asked as he seemed content to grant the doomed attorney the chance to say whatever was on his mind.

"…The statement the witness just provided to us contains a very blatant contradiction!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed loudly and suddenly. This caused the entire courtroom to talk amongst themselves both in surprise and the meaning of his words.

"Oh, isn't this just rich?" the old prosecutor simply replied as a wry smile made its way onto his face. "That's an amusing spew of last words you've given us. Now you'll really be known for being disgraced out of the courtroom while still trying to put up a hopeless fight. But just for the sake of my own amusement, do you mind telling us just what it is that contradicts Max's previous statement?"

"I'll be more than happy to," the defense attorney responded with a wide smirk on his face accompanied with a firm nod of his head. "Max here has just testified to having seen this so-called bag from his balcony without any form of visual obstruction whatsoever. This is where the contradiction in his story lies."

"What contradiction?" His Honor asked as he finally managed to bring order to the courtroom. Even he was quite taken aback by Sonic's sudden exclamation. "I fail to see what you're talking about, Mr. Sonic."

"That's because you've forgotten the conditions that were present on the morning of the murder, Your Honor," Tails spoke up as he understood his brother's line of thinking and quickly took out both the Weather Report and Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report from their compilation of evidence. "On the first day of this trial, this Weather Report was submitted to the court by Senior Detective Silver under the guise to help supplement the weather conditions of the morning of the murder. According to this, the fog became quite thick at six and didn't begin to dissipate until around seven-thirty."

"And where exactly are you going with this forecast from the past?" Mephiles asked with a roll of his eyes. "I'm guessing you're going to compare it with the autopsy report, although I find little point in doing so."

"That's because you're not looking at the two hard enough," the two tailed fox countered with a smirk approaching his face. "According to this autopsy report, our victim was killed around six-thirty and seven. That would mean that the murder occurred when the morning fog was at its densest. The Weather Report even added a note that it'd have been impossible to see more than ten feet without the aid of a concentrated beam of light like car headlights. If both of these reports are the truth, then the possibilities of Max's last statement being the truth are nonexistent! Therefore, it's impossible that the witness could see the supposed bag hanging on the side of the docks with the clarity he has claimed!"

Upon hearing this, the gallery once again began talking amongst themselves over the newly discovered contradiction. All of them were no doubt confused as to what the defense's claim meant to the overall progression of the case. That was understandable since the claim was made right after Sonic and Tails were being portrayed by both Judge and prosecutor to be just a couple of bumbling idiots in today's proceedings.

"If this is your attempt to confuse the courts and bring things back into your favor, then I must say you're making a good start," the old prosecutor responded calmly as he seemed unfazed by the unearthed contradiction. "All I can say to your efforts is this; so what? I hardly find the importance of discovering that Max here couldn't have in fact seen the supposed bag from his vantage point. What could it possibly prove apart from the fact that you're desperately trying to make something big out of something so insignificantly small?"

"It can prove quite a few of things provided you know what you're looking for," Sonic explained as the Judge managed to bring order back to the court once more. "The question we're all probably asking ourselves right now is what reasons would Max have to lie about something as simple as this? Under the current conditions, we'd naturally assume that he has absolutely no good reason for doing so."

"Under the current conditions?" His Honor repeated with a questioning eyebrow raised in confusion. "I'm afraid you've lost me once again, Mr. Sonic. Do you mind elaborating to the court a bit what exactly is going on in that mind of yours? I doubt that I need to remind you the consequences of providing the court an insignificant explanation, an escort out of this courtroom by my bailiff due to obstruction of justice."

"What we should really be asking ourselves is _why_ the witness went and lied about something so seemingly unimportant and hardly damaging to the structure of his alibi," the cobalt hedgehog explained after nodding his head in recognition at the Judge's warning. "We already know for a fact that the phone call he received from this mysterious person that morning supposedly hinted to him about a strange bag being used at the murder set-up. However, Max himself had testified that the man never once told him the exact location of this bag. We also proved that it was impossible for him to have seen it from where he was standing because of the thick fog that morning!"

"And why would it be impossible?" the prosecutor asked with his arms crossed in a defiant manner. "Don't forget that our witness here was on the lighthouse balcony with the light shining brightly behind him. With such a bright light, it would easily cut through the fog and grant him a lot more visual space. That should dissolve your contradiction down to the meaningless drabble it is!"

"Unfortunately for you, a lighthouse light isn't the type of light that's constructed to be concentrated in one direction," Tails calmly countered back with a disagreeable shake of his head. "Unlike a car's headlights which are constructed to shine their beams of light in one sole direction, a lighthouse's light is solely meant to warn oncoming ships that they are near land. Except for being insanely bright, the light is in a room constructed so that the advantages of such a bright light are used to its fullest. As such, the fog would still have impeded Max's ability to have seen the bag on the docks for the light could not possibly have extended his line of vision to such great lengths!"

"…Okay, I concede that your explanation of the lighthouse light may be a plausible truth. However, that's still not going to help with your argument. Do you even have any evidence as to where this supposed bag was positioned on the docks? If the bag was situated rather close to the lighthouse, then it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say he managed to still see it through the dense fog. I'm sure that the light would at least provide to some degree a few yards of vision from the lighthouse itself."

"Prosecutor Mephiles brings up a good point," the Judge agreed with a nod of his head. "Unless the defense can prove where exactly this bag that Max saw was positioned on the docks, there's no way we can safely say that he couldn't have seen it. Does the defense have anything that proves the exact location of this bag?"

"…I don't have any definitive evidence on me at this time, but I do have something that should help supplement my claims as to where this bag was positioned both before and during the time of the murder and murder set-up," Sonic replied as he took a couple of seconds to think about what in his collection of evidence could help him. "I would like to draw the court's attention to this red paper that was found dangling on the side of the docks just a couple of feet from where Shadow was arrested."

"And how exactly is an insignificant piece of street trash going to help supplement your terribly trashy theory?" Mephiles asked as he looked at the small piece of paper that the defense attorney had in his hand and scoffed at it. "That looks like something you could easily find at your local supply store."

"…I apologize; I should've introduced this piece of evidence as a Firecracker instead," the cobalt hedgehog stated as he hardly sounded sorry about it. It was more as though he was trying to give the prosecutor a taste of his own vague legal medicine. "The black markings on this that have resulted from the explosion is proof of that since there are traces of firecracker powder. Attached to this remnant of a Firecracker is a piece of tape that happens to have some fibers of a rope that have been burned. It's no doubt this happened when the Firecracker went off. This also proves that something was hanging on the side of the docks and held up by tape. This proves that the bag Max had mentioned was quite a long way away from the lighthouse and thus was impossible for him to see through the fog.

"And if you want more convincing, just take a look at the Photograph from witness Amy Rose!" the two tailed fox quickly added as he took note of the prosecutor looking ready to raise another contradiction. He then said as he pulled out said piece of evidence, "You can clearly see that the lighthouse is nonexistent in the background save for the bright ball of light shining through the fog. The Photograph itself is my proof as to how far the lighthouse was in relations to where the Firecracker was found!"

"Hmm, I must say that I'm quite impressed with the defense's reckless yet informative pursuit for the truth," the Judge stated as he thought about what had transpired in the past few minutes. "When they had first pointed out the discrepancy in the level of vision, I must admit I was skeptical as to whether they were really onto something. However, I now see that this contradiction really does present some level of doubt in the witness's testimony. Max, do you have anything to say about this?"

"What can I say about all this?" Max quickly stated simply with a questioning shrug of his shoulders. He had stayed quiet for the whole exchange between defense and prosecution as if he were just going to let them take care of the argument that he had ultimately caused. And strangely enough, he seemed content to be quiet rather than say anything as suggested by his unusually less-than-enthusiastic response to the Judge. "To be honest, both of the attorneys here have been saying a lot of different things. I'm kind of having a hard time understanding what's really going on."

"You're not the only one with that feeling," the old prosecutor agreed with a growl and roll of his eyes. "Despite this confusion, let me address to the court another problem that the defense has failed to prove. They have yet to provide any evidence that this bag that Max said he saw even exists! For all we know, the defense has been leading us on a wild goose chase with an admittedly crucial detail that's nonexistent! If they can't show us that this bag existed at the time of the crime, then their precious contradiction can't possibly stand. After all, the crux of their argument revolves around it."

"Y-you want proof that the bag existed at that exact moment?" Sonic asked in a slightly dumbfounded fashion upon seeing his momentum quickly being forced to a halt. "Well, the witness's own words should be proof enough that it existed at the docks when my client was being framed for this murder. I mean, he was pretty insistent that he saw it! You can't ask for more concrete proof than that!"

"That may be true, but it's ultimately your responsibility to prove to this court that what he said is the truth," the other simply countered as he shook his head in sarcastic disappointment. "After all, you were the one to have brought up this contradiction if only as a result from the argument about his field of vision. That was what brought you to the topic currently at hand. As such, it ultimately lies to you to show us all whether or not your contradiction is well-founded by proving to us that this bag existed!"

All the cobalt hedgehog could say in response was inaudible stutters as he tried to recover from this curveball that was suddenly thrown in his direction. Clearly, he was not expecting for something like this to happen and was struggling to come up with a quick but suitable save from the now precarious situation.

"Well, does the defense have anything that proves that Max indeed saw a bag on the docks on the morning of the murder?" the Judge asked as he turned the court's focus to the defense. "I do find it hard to believe that Max was the only one to have seen this bag while the entire police force failed to do so when they swept the area for evidence. With only the witness's words on the matter, you'll need supporting evidence to support both his claim and your overall contradiction. Do you have something of that nature in your possession to present at this point in time?"

"Um, could I have a moment to consult with my assistant here?" the defense attorney asked before turning towards Tails without waiting for a confirmation. He then said in quiet yet panicky whisper, "Tails, what am I going to do here?_!_ I know I don't have anything like that on me now!"

"I don't know what to say here," Tails admitted as he shook his head. "I hate to say it, but I think we're officially in a corner we can't get out of this time. I didn't think that Mephiles would come up with something like this to stop us in our tracks. We don't have anything in our evidence that can prove something like this."

"… …Wait a minute; maybe we do have something like that! What about the piece of evidence that Silver gave us when he first arrived here today? Do you think that can prove Max really saw the bag?"

"…You know, that just might work!" the two tailed fox responded as a hopeful smile came to his lips. "I mean, we'd probably need to get it looked into further, but it just might work well enough to convince the Judge. And I think we already have the evidence needed to put up with any kind of cross-referencing the prosecutor might want."

"Are you quite done with your consulting?" His Honor asked as annoyance was clear in his tone. "If so, then can you please provide the court with an answer as to whether or not you have evidence concerning the bag?"

"I believe I might just have the concrete evidence we're all looking for," Sonic replied with confidence in his voice despite inwardly feeling nervous about the whole thing. He then said as he picked up the Bag of Bricks and set it on his desk, "Before court started today, Senior Detective Silver Hedgehog offered us this beige bag under the guise that it might be evidence in our current case. I believe that he might've been right on that accord."

"Hey, that's the Bag of Bricks I saw!" Max stated excitedly with a wide smile upon seeing that his claim was now proven to be true. "That's what I saw hanging on the side of the docks that day!"

"…I'm guessing the court doesn't need any more confirmation that the bag in question does in fact exist," the cobalt hedgehog responded cockily as the gallery began to quietly chatter amongst themselves. He then said as if to further rub the fact into Mephiles's nose, "But if the prosecution would still like to have more concrete proof, then I suggest we have the rope and burn marks compared with the Firecracker. I'm sure that the burn marks and rope fibers would match quite well. All this together should adequately prove that there was a bag hanging on the side of the docks at the time of Shadow's framing! And I'm pretty sure it's easy to explain how this bag ended up disappearing what with the Firecracker ultimately going off at some point and making the rope burn and snap into the river."

"…So you've proven that Max's claims to be true and that your contradiction holds some semblance of reasonability within it," Mephiles begrudgingly admitted as he let out an angry growl. It was clear to him that he was losing his stance and not very happy with the fact. "I have only one thing to say about that. All you've proven was that Max managed to somehow see the bag despite the weather conditions of that morning. How exactly is that supposed to help you with your overall claim that he is in fact the true murderer?_!_ You've strayed terribly from our main objective in today's proceedings."

"I object to that!" the defense attorney calmly objected without much effort. "What I've just proven does show that Max was in fact the murderer! It's actually thanks to his previous statement that I now have all the information I need.

"If you all remember from just a couple of minutes ago, Max had just said something that nobody in this entire court save me, Tails, and Silver should know," he explained as he finally felt he had enough evidence and information to formally make his indictment. "He said that this beige bag was a Bag of Bricks. Your Honor, did I at any time introduce this piece of evidence as such during today's court proceedings?"

"I-I don't believe you ever did," the Judge responded after giving it a second of thought. "But wait a minute; how could the witness possibly know what's in the bag if you've never once told us what's in there?"

"Well, let me first start off by saying that Max is indeed correct in saying that this is a Bag of Bricks," Tails confirmed as he untied the bag and pulled out a couple of red rectangular bricks. "This proves that while knowing the existence of the bag and its general location on the day of the murder, he also knew what the contents were. He has already testified quite clearly that he knew where the bag was, yet he failed to tell us that he knew all along what was in here despite having more than enough of an opportunity to tell us. I can only think of one reason that would explain why he knew the contents of the bag; he was the one to have set it up on the docks in preparation for framing Shadow in the murder of Prosecutor Flora Mae! Only the murderer would know about what was in this bag, so it'd only stand to reason that Mr. Maxwell Pryce is the one to have murdered the woman!"

Once again, the gallery went in an uproar at the accusation. While taking a lot of effort, the Judge somehow managed to quell the chaos after banging his gavel and shouting at the top of his lungs for order for the next few minutes.

"…I see that you've managed to cause quite the commotion yet again," Mephiles stated as he tightly crossed his arms, seemingly unfazed by the renewed accusation and the uncalled outburst from the gallery. "And to think that you actually managed to pull this off with just a simple Bag of Bricks that you claim can be cross-referenced to with the Firecracker. However, I must say that just using this bag as the basis for your indictment is rather thin. Do you happen to have anything else with you that can further supplement your veil thin claim?"

"Oh, I'm sure we've got plenty to go along with our claim," Sonic simply responded with a cocky smile. "As the defensive team have just stated, only the murderer would know that there was a bag just hanging on the side of the docks on the morning of the murder and set-up against my client. We've proven that it'd have been highly improbable for Max to have seen the bag from his position at the lighthouse balcony even with such a bright light shining behind him. Combine that with the fact that this bag is a shade of white and it makes it remotely impossible to be correctly identified in such a foggy day like the morning of the murder. Put this all with the fact that he somehow happened to know the contents of this bag before I've even fully explained it to the court and we have our witness now being a prime suspect!

"Of course, the prosecutor already said that he wants to hear more evidence that further supplements my claims that our witness could be the only one to have murdered the victim," he continued on as he quickly shut the prosecutor up upon noticing him about to make a retort. "If they want proof that everything I've been claiming is in fact the truth, then I'll be more than happy to serve everything all at once to him until he can't handle it anymore! And I'm quite sure these next couple pieces of evidence will no doubt be enough to prove to the court that only Max could be the true murderer.

"Naturally, I'm speaking in regards to the murder weapon and the controversy that has arisen about it from yesterday's proceedings. Long before we even started with this trial, it had been adequately proven by forensics that it was this Pistol currently in our possession that killed Prosecutor Flora Mae, otherwise known as Lois Pryce. However, while said to have been first discovered on the docks, it was never used once at the scene first discovered by witness Amy Rose. Rather, the weapon she saw the defendant holding in his hands was nothing but a Fake Murder Weapon."

"I believe that's what you were trying to argue yesterday when it was first brought to our attention," Mephiles responded with a sigh as if the explanation he was listening to was boring and tiring. "However, I hardly see what point this has to your overall indictment of our witness here. If it's within your mental capacity, do you think you can elaborate more on just why this Fake Murder Weapon that was first discovered by an annoying bee who testified yesterday is of such importance to your very flimsy argument?"

"Before I go and answer your question, let me explain a couple of key points in the Pistol," the cobalt hedgehog replied as he purposefully held off on answering the prosecutor's question because he was not ready to do so yet. That and he really wanted to annoy the heck out of him while he had the chance. "While it's true that it has Shadow's fingerprints on it, he had never once laid hands on the weapon. As stated just a few seconds ago, there was no murder taking place at the docks where this case first started; rather, it's been proven that the murder actually took place at the lighthouse where our current witness currently resides! The defendant was clearly not at the lighthouse at any point of that day, so it's therefore impossible for him to fit the description of murderer by this point alone. Max here has even testified so himself when he was insistent in saying he was alone that whole morning!

"Now that we're through explaining that, let me bring us back to the regards of the Fake Murder Weapon," Tails decided to step in seeing that his brother was starting to get a bit tired from the long explanation. "It was found by Charmy Bee, a witness we heard from yesterday who's employed by the Chaotix Detective Agency. Upon being requested to search the lighthouse and doing so after our investigation of the building, he said he found this imitation that looks a lot like the Pistol hidden behind a clock. When the detective agency had it analyzed by forensics, they discovered that it also had Shadow's fingerprints on it. If Shadow had never once entered the lighthouse as it has already been proven, then how is it that this Fake Murder Weapon has his fingerprints? The only conclusion we can come up with is that at some point between the transferring of evidence from crime scene to the forensics department, there was an exchange between the two. It's impossible for the exchange to have happened before then because Ms. Rose stayed at the scene from the moment she contacted police until the moment they arrived. There's no way such a swap could've taken place with her ever shocked yet watchful gaze keeping careful watch over the crime scene that was staged to frame my client. In other words, someone assigned to this case swapped evidence in order to successfully frame Shadow for this crime!"

"Now that we've proven that the defendant is just a victim of a framing scheme in this case, let me go ahead and formally indict the witness of murdering his sister with damning evidence that goes in conjunction with everything we've just discussed," Sonic decided to take over as the two had finally proven Shadow's innocence and was now moving on to confronting the real murderer. "The Fake Murder Weapon was first at the docks when this all unfolded. It was then witnessed by Amy Rose as proven by her Photograph. However, at some point during the transferring of evidence from crime scene to forensics department, the Fake Murder Weapon was swapped out with the Pistol that we now have in our possession. Apart from the fact that we don't know who exactly the one to have performed the swap was; we've already discussed that the Fake Murder Weapon was ultimately discovered inside the lighthouse. That would mean that Max was the one responsible for swapping and thus forging a murder weapon since he's the only one with access to the hiding place in the clock in his house!

"And with all this in mind, only Mr. Maxwell Pryce could've been the one to murder his sister. It's already proven that the Pistol was used at the lighthouse balcony; the Blood found on the railing along with the Bullet Casing on the balcony floor proves this. Once the deed was done, all he had to do was simply wait for his accomplice to come by and bring the Fake Murder Weapon over. Of course, that could only be possible when the police had already arrived and started to collect evidence. I've no doubt that it'd have been very easy to make such a quick swap what with the relative closeness between the lighthouse and the portion of the docks where the murder was first discovered. And once the Pistol had been swapped out and labeled as the actual gun recovered from the docks, all Max had to do then was just place the Fake Murder Weapon in the clock where it'd forever be out of sight. However, I can say with relative confidence that he never felt the lighthouse would ever be suspected as the actual scene of the crime what with such telltale evidence like Ms. Mae's Blood and the Bullet Casing just out in the open like that.

"With everything said and done, the only person who could possibly fit the bill as the murderer of Prosecutor Flora Mae, otherwise known as Lois Pryce, was her very own brother, Mr. Maxwell Pryce!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed once he was done explaining everything to the best of his ability. "He was the only one with the capability to have murdered her on that lighthouse balcony that very morning. He was the only one to have had the chance to swap out the Fake Murder Weapon with the Pistol with the help of an accomplice whose identity is currently unknown to us. And finally, he's the only one who could've known what the contents of this beige bag were before having once heard at any time during today's proceedings just what exactly was in here. All this is something that only the murderer could've performed, and all of these actions only point to Mr. Pryce as the lone suspect. What do you have to say about all that, Mr. Maxwell Pryce?"

"Objection!" Mephiles suddenly decided to object. "While your long explanation is by no small feat commendable, you still failed to prove one thing. Legally, the witness here has been deemed mentally challenged and trapped with a seven-year-old mind. If he's mentally a seven-year-old, then how could he possibly orchestrate such a complicated plan for murder? For a man of his caliber, it's feasibly impossible even with the help of a supposed accomplice! You've never proven that he isn't in fact mentally competent, and that's the only thing keeping you from your fantasy of portraying this witness as a murderer!"

"That's enough, Prosecutor," a voice suddenly interrupted the old prosecutor. "I doubt it really matters at this point whether or not I'm mentally challenged what with everything the defense has already proven."

"Wh-who said that?_!_" the Judge asked as he did not recognize the new voice. "This is a court of law, and I will not condone any uncalled for outburst from any besides the defense or prosecution! Who just spoke out without permission?

"Maxwell Pryce, that's who," the person responded, this time having everybody's attention turn towards the witness. However, instead of the poor mentally challenged man in front of them, the witness was now standing tall with nothing but a pure serious look on his face that clearly did not hold a shred of childishness it had held before. "Like I said, the defense has already proven quite well my involvement in this murder. I don't see now why it should matter whether or not I'm mentally incompetent."

"…I believe we're seeing for the first time the real Mr. Maxwell Pryce," the defense attorney announced to the court calmly despite inwardly taken aback by this sudden change in the man's demeanor. "This is who he really is, a reasonably healthy man who has just been discovered as the murderer of his sister Lois Pryce."

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Bag of Bricks: A slightly dirtied beige bag filled with red rectangular bricks. It was found at the bottom of the river when the police were looking for Flora Mae's body. Despite being disregarded as trash, Detective Silver decided to deliver it to Sonic and Tails under the guise that it might help them with the case. Strangely enough, the top is tied off with rope that has black marks at the frayed end as if it had been burned.

**Updated Profile:**

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who has pretended to be a mentally challenged man for five years. Upon being confronted with mountains of evidence pointing him out to be his sister's killer, he has forsaken his facade and is now seemingly willing to admit to the murder.

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><p>Well, let me all tell you one thing. That was the shortest testimony that I've ever written for this story. And no, Max's first testimony was only three sentences long without any additional statements. This one was three sentences long. And ironically enough, this very short testimony was host to the longest cross-examination that I've ever written. This one was five pages long! Wow!<p>

But yeah, that's enough with that bit of information I'm sure none of you guys are very interested in. Let's just move on by saying that we're finally able to see Max's true colors. Apparently, he feels like that everything Sonic and Tails have proved is more than enough to convict him regardless whether or not he continues on with his mentally challenged act. At he's a lot more cooperative than Sonic's other murder suspects and admits without so much of a fight, right? Oh wait, I had you all stuck on a cliffhanger of sorts as to what's going to happen next, right? Let's see if things really are as easy to win as it seems for the gang right now.

Believe me when I say that the way the story's going right now is a far cry from what I originally had in mind. In a version of this part of the case that I came up with like four months ago, Leukis Kruger was supposed to have already been found and meant to testify against Max and get him convicted. As you can see, he still has yet to be found. However, he still holds an important role which shall be introduced in probably the next chapter. Also, Salemand was supposed to hold a more important meaning to this case, but like his little brother, his important role has been slightly changed. And finally, there will be one character, who if you have been paying attention has not had a lot of story time, who will have everything about him revealed. I repeat; everything I've just said was not planned ahead. They were all changed drastically from the original script I had made in my head over four months ago! Boy; isn't it amazing how four months can change so much in terms of a story?

But yeah, I'll leave you all alone now from my rant and let you move onto the next story you want to read. Just please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto something else. And just as a final parting word, I purposefully introduced the Bag of Bricks at a seemingly random moment so that it would not be so easy to forget when it needed to be presented as evidence. I find that it's hard to forget something when it's randomly thrown at you rather than actually being part of the story where it tends to be less memorable. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!


	27. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 13

Hello everybody! Welcome to the final chapter, the final chapter of this case. For those of you who remember, I've been teasing you all with little mentions of a certain case starting in the second of Sonic's trials. Well, this chapter is finally going to open up the way to all the mysteries that tie our four friends together from five years ago! Everything is about to be revealed. But before we do that, we must first finish up this case. Oh, the things they have to do before they can finally pursue the LK-9 Incident...

Anyway, I purposefully made this final chapter to this case and put the last chapter in a cliffhanger of sorts because I wanted this to be both closure for this case and an opening for the LK-9 Incident. Basically, this chapter is going to perform two duties at once. Talk about making a chapter do some multitasking, huh?

But yeah, this chapter is going to feature the longest testimony I've ever written that's longer than the previous chapter's. It's also got the longest cross-examination that went up to a little over six pages. That's one page longer than the last chapter's! Boy, that just mean that Max here has a lot to say today regarding the case. Let's just hope that it's all good things for Sonic and Tails.

Well, that's enough of my pointless words and ranting that I'm sure most of you don't even bother reading. It's not like you're missing out on anything important anyway. But all that aside, please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you're planning to read. Your reviews are always helpful, except when they're just pointless flames, in either providing me with constructive feedback or just basic encouragement and praise at my work. I even read constructive criticism so long as they don't have any kind of hateful tinge in them.

With all that aside, let me just go ahead and post the evidence list and the profiles for this case once more before moving out of the way. Once that's done, I'll see you all on the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site. Just please don't mind a slight pause in between this chapter and the next one. I'll be starting college again in about a week, and the first days are always going to be hectic. So don't be concerned if you don't see me updating this in a long while. I promise to get to it. Besides, this is a story that I really want to finish since it's so exciting even to me to just get to the ending that I have no idea how it's going to turn out. Until then everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing with the forensics report brought by Knuckles. It shows that the blood belonged to Ms. Mae and proving that she was at the lighthouse the moment she was murdered.

Fake Murder Weapon: An idea conjured up by Tails while exploring the lighthouse. After hearing Charmy's testimony, the thought of a fake weapon being in play is now a reality. A fake gun was found by the bee inside a clock and bears Shadow's fingerprints. Being that Shadow never entered the lighthouse before, this is proof that this was the gun seen at the docks the moment after the 'murder' witnessed by Amy Rose.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

Bullet Casing: A casing found on the lighthouse balcony and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The ballistic markings on it matched exactly with the bullet that was extracted from Ms. Mae. It also proves that the gun found on the docks was actually used and moved from the lighthouse.

Doctor Reports: Paperwork found in the lighthouse living room and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. They prove that Mr. Pryce visits the doctor every week for his condition. They also seem to indicate that he lives with a caretaker because of the fact that such complicated reports were sent to his house.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some prior knowledge of the fake murder taking place on the Mobius Docks. While a handwriting analysis could not be done on the contents because of the lack of a reasonably suspicious person to compare it to, Mr. Pryce's fingerprints were found all over it.

Firecracker: The Red Paper found stuck on the side of the Mobius Docks and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. Tests prove that it was once a Firecracker before it had exploded, and the black mark on it was from the explosion. The tape that is still on it has some burned fibers that belonged to a rope.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

Fingerprints: Prints found in the lighthouse by Charmy Bee. They were on a cup shoved all the way towards the back of a kitchen cupboard as if in a haste with a cup of tea still in it. This proves that it was used recently. They belong to the victim in the case, Ms. Flora Mae, but Vector recognized the prints from the LK-9 Incident and realized they actually belonged to Ms. Lois Pryce. This proves that these two people are actually one.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. There are four sections in the case file that have yet to be reviewed by the two.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring. Without any concrete proof, however, this ends up to be nothing but conjecture at this point.

Bag of Bricks: A slightly dirtied beige bag filled with red rectangular bricks. It was found at the bottom of the river when the police were looking for Flora Mae's body. Despite being disregarded as trash, Detective Silver decided to deliver it to Sonic and Tails under the guise that it might help them with the case. Strangely enough, the top is tied off with rope that has black marks at the frayed end as if it had been burned.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius and using his current name as an alias. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It is suspected that he might know something concerning the LK-9 Incident.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern two years ago.

Flora Mae: The victim in this case who was a prosecutor at the local prosecutor's office. She was proven to have been at the lighthouse at the moment of her death. Because of her fingerprints found in the lighthouse, it has been proven that she is in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Max's sister who has been thought to have been killed in the LK-9 Incident.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who has pretended to be a mentally challenged man for five years. Upon being confronted with mountains of evidence pointing him out to be his sister's killer, he has forsaken his facade and is now seemingly willing to admit to the murder.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

Charmy Bee: a young eight-year-old bee who happens to be employed with the Chaotix Detective Agency. Apparently, he was sent to investigate the lighthouse by a third party who had employed the agency to do so. As such, he has arrived at the courthouse in order to testify about this matter at the very last minute.

Ace Sleuth: A former senior detective from the local Precinct who is now behind bars for having murdered his fiancée. Since his conviction, Shadow has had the man living at an undisclosed location and under witness protection because of the potential importance he might have in solving the LK-9 Case.

Leukis Kruger (luke-is crew-grr): Salemand's eighteen-year-old younger albino lion brother who has been afflicted with the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome. He is apparently a member of Interpol with his name simply a code name. According to Salemand, he has been missing for a few days. As accidentally revealed by Vector, his real name is actually Leon.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 27: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 13<strong>

"It's a pleasure to be in your presence as my real self," Max responded as he let a tired-sounding sigh escape his lips. Despite that, he now held a more definitive and mature aura about him that was in stark contrast to his earlier bout of childishness. "It's been a long time since I've been able to act like myself in public. That and I'm dead tired of pretending to be acting like someone I'm not. I've been forced to act like a mentally challenged man from the moment my sister faked her death. It's done nothing but ruin my life posing as such a person who isn't even capable of doing many of the simple things in life. I simply just erased from the picture the one person who forced me to become who I've been pretending to be all this time, my sister Lois Pryce who had since changed her identity to Flora Mae."

"So you admit to having murdered the victim with your own hands?" Tails asked once he recovered from the shock of seeing such a sudden change in Max. Then again, he was already somewhat expecting to see normal Max, so he was already somewhat prepared for the shocking moment even though it happened sooner than expected. "If so, then would it trouble you to testify to the court about this matter? Could you tell us why you would want to murder your own sister? Now that we have the real you talking to us, I'm sure that requesting a new piece of testimony from you is more than reasonable."

"I think that decision resides with the Judge here," the witness answered as he motioned with his head towards the old man. Unlike in Sonic's other cases where the real murderer acted completely defeated upon being unmasked, Max seemed to be quite calm about everything that was happening. "I'll happily give you some new testimony if His Honor feels it's necessary for the court to spend time on. I'm sure that's how your standard court protocols work. So what's your decision on this matter, Your Honor?"

"W-well, I must admit that what we've just discovered in today's court proceedings is by no means a small shock to everyone in this room!" the Judge responded as he clearly still held some residual effects of the huge shocker at Max talking normally both at him and in general. He then said after trying to clear his throat a couple of times, "Beyond that…, I'd be more than happy to hear testimony that takes on the form of a confession. I mean, it is somewhat unusual in itself to hear a murderer actually confessing in open court to a crime of his own free will. Does the prosecution have any objections on this matter?"

"Humph, I hardly think my opinion, sound or otherwise, holds much weight on this case anymore, Your Honor," Mephiles huffed out like a child who had just lost a fame he had been dead set on winning. After all, the witness has already admitted to murdering the victim, a claim that I clearly never saw coming. My only sole reason for presiding over this case has already been absolved. I doubt it matters what my thoughts on the subject are anymore. However," he then continued on with a smirk slowly approaching his face as if he just came up with an idea, "I suppose I am somewhat interested as to the witness's sudden admission to this crime. Like you said, it isn't every day that we hear of someone spontaneously admitting to a crime before they've been fully caught. And who knows? I might actually dig up something that might prove he's merely taking the fall for someone else."

"Very well then; the witness shall testify to the court about why he murdered the victim!" His Honor responded with a nod of his head as he banged his gavel to officiate his order. "If anything, this should provide us with a motive as to why he would go so far as to kill his very own sister. I truly find it hard to believe that family would hate each other so much as to go this far; it's even harder to believe that Max would pretend to become mentally unstable at the discovery of her supposed death five years ago. I don't see the point in willingly ruining your own life by acting as a mentally challenged person for five years."

"You'd be surprised as to what the limitless boundaries of anger can easily lead up to," the old prosecutor responded in a strangely wise fashion that was truly not becoming of him. "And you'd also be surprised at how far other people would do in order to help someone else. However, the time for philosophical and moral discussion has passed. We've asked the witness to testify in regards to his admission, and we shall listen intently to it."

"Geez, I didn't think somebody could sound so defeated yet still hold some fight at the same time," Sonic groaned out as he prepared to finally hear the truth of this entire case straight from the actual perpetrator. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that we've been dealing with a bi-polar savage prosecutor this entire time."

_**Motive for Murder**_

My sister was the sole cause for the destruction of what I considered to be my normal way of life five years ago! Because of her, I had to play the role of a man utterly shocked into a childish mentality upon hearing that his "beloved" sister had been "killed"! I mean it was either that or face a harsh prison sentence because of her illegal involvements that I was unfortunate enough to be dragged into. I never wanted to play any part in her illegal activities; unfortunately for me, the group she worked for likes to involve immediate family to their causes through willing or non-willing tactics. I soon found myself thrown into her twisted world of crime; it became even worse for me when I discovered that she was to be my "designated caregiver" for the rest of my life as a demented man. Needless to say, my hatred against her has grown over the next five years to the point where all I wanted to do was kill her with my own two hands! However, I held back on those irresistible desires simply because her boss considered her to be both useful and necessary to his plans. It was only when I got the official orders four days ago to kill Lois was I truly happy for the first time in my many years of torture. So long as she's permanently out of the picture for the rest of my life, I could care less about what the law has in store for me as a form of punishment!

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Well, it sounds as though we've gotten our motive for why Ms. Flora Mae was killed," the Judge stated in a convincing tone despite his face showing he was still somewhat taken aback by the sudden change in Max's demeanor. "Everything seems quite well explained; I hardly see the need for the defense to cross-examine this particular piece of testimony, especially since it seems to be of a very beneficial nature to them."

"While the testimony does help cement my claim that Shadow is innocent of these charges, I would still like to exercise my right to a cross-examination, Your Honor," Sonic simply replied as he allowed the long testimony to stew for a bit in his mind. "The witness has admitted that he hated the victim so much as to kill her when given the time of day. However, he has also pointed out a couple of things that I would like to have clarified before the trial is over and he gets sent to prison."

"My, this should prove to be interesting," Mephiles responded as he looked at the cobalt hedgehog with what looked to have been slightly confused eyes. "Are you really going to go looking for holes in his testimony that might end up damaging your oh-so-precious stance that you've been defending for this entire trial? I must say that it'd be rather amusing to watch you create your own downfall from your height of victory."

"Just because the witness states the truth doesn't mean that we don't have the potential to learn more from what he has just said," Tails countered back as he put in his two cents on the issue. "And it's with that note that the defense feels like that there's something more that can be learned when we cross-examine Max. Regardless whether or not you believe this to be nothing but a waste of time, whatever information we can get from this witness's admission can be no doubt of great importance to his conviction hearing once this trial is over!"

Instead of adding anything else or coming up with some kind of insult, the old prosecutor chose to stay quiet. It was almost as if he were actually enticing the two to go ahead with their cross-examination. Either that or he honestly had nothing to say, but that seemed like quite an impossibility considering the kind of person the prosecutor is.

"I feel like we're moving onto this particular cross-examination a little bit too easy," the cobalt hedgehog whispered to his little brother as he continued to stare at the old hedgehog's rather strange and unreadable facial expression. "I mean, I kind of expected Mephiles to say something along the lines of this being redundant now that we have a full-fledged confession or some other kind of annoying remark to keep me from winning. Why is he going against his no-nonsense nature all of a sudden?"

"Maybe he feels like he's got nothing to lose at this point since he's pretty much already lost the case because of Max's blatant and…unfortunately unremorseful confession," the two tailed fox suggested with a shrug of his shoulders and a sad sigh at the previously passionate testimony. "Don't go worrying about that, though. Just concentrate on getting some answers from Max, particularly from the statements that concern his sister and his reasons for acting like a mentally challenged man all this time. If you think about it, we really don't know all that much about her or his overall motive for his actions. And if we're lucky enough, we just might hear something that has relations to the LK-9 Incident."

"Well, he better be quick in making it known," the defense attorney grumbled out as he stole a glance out the window. "I think we've already been here for over two hours now. I don't think the Judge is going to entertain the idea of working on the LK-9 case into the night hours. Oh well, might as well get this over with quickly then."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"First off, do you mind if I addressed you as Mr. Pryce from now on?" Sonic asked as he directed his attention to said witness. He had decided that opening the cross-examination with a rather calm and innocent question would be the best approach after hearing such a shocker just a few seconds previously. "Now that we know your true mental status, it would only be fair to us all to address you properly and respectfully."

"Go ahead and call me whatever you want," Max responded with his arms lightly crossed as if he could care less about whatever was going to happen in the coming minutes. "It's not like it really matters to me anymore."

"Alright; then do you mind telling us next just how exactly the victim, your sister Lois Pryce, ended up ruining your life five years ago?" the cobalt hedgehog questioned. "It must've been quite an altering event for you to hold such strong hatred against her."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," the man responded with an angry growl leaving his lips. "It's because she ruled her life by her own self-centeredness that led to her insatiable greed. She may not have looked it while playing as a city prosecutor, but she always put herself before anyone else, especially when it comes to material things."

"…And you're saying that this led to the destruction of your life how?" the defense attorney asked cautiously as he could practically feel the venom behind the witness's words. "Did something happen five years ago that revolved around her self-centered habits?"

"I'd honestly rather not talk about it. And besides, I hardly find how discovering what took place in my familial life five years ago holds any importance to your current case at hand. At best, it only serves to satisfy your morbid curiosity."

"I beg to differ on that," Tails announced as he quickly sensed Max's belligerence level rising and posing a problem. "You yourself have stated that your life was ruined during that timeframe. You even opened up your confession with that statement first. I'm sure that I speak for everybody in here that what happened then is more than important."

"…Humph, you sure know how to put up a good argument," Max responded with a belligerent huff of his breath. "Regardless, I'm not going to delve into my past. It has nothing to do with my confession and motive."

"Might I suggest that we move on from this stalemate of sorts?" Mephiles calmly suggested with an amused shake of his head. "While I do enjoy a good spat between witness and defense at times, I must say that this is becoming idiotic."

"Mr. Sonic, I believe that you're not going to persuade the witness to divulge information about his family problems that occurred five years ago," the Judge agreed as he banged at his gavel. "Would you please move onto another topic of interest that you deem important for the court to listen. I don't believe I need to remind you that it was under your suggestion that we allowed for the cross-examination of a testimony that only serves to benefit you."

"There's no need, Your Honor," Sonic replied with a stiff nod of his head before moving onto his next question. "Do you think you could elaborate a bit more on why it was necessary for you to play the part of a mentally challenged man for all these years?"

"It was so I could escape under the radar of the police," the witness simply responded. "That and the timing of the incident that happened at the same time of her staged death forced me to take such drastic measures."

"Do you think you could elaborate on that?" the two tailed fox asked with questioning eyebrows raised. "Even you must admit that your explanation is too vague to simply leave alone."

"I agree with the defense on this," His Honor quickly responded in the defense's defense. "Do you mind giving the court more details on this?"

"I guess I'm not really in a position to decline now that Your Honor is also asking. If you really want to know, my sister happened to be involved in an on-going crime at the time. As she was about to be caught, the organization she worked for managed to come up with a cover-up where she ended up being legally dead. Unfortunately, that left me holding the short end of the stick, so I came up with an idea of my own where I was found by police already in my shocked state of childish mentality. With just some great acting and a doctor who happened to be employed by the organization altering my doctor reports, I was able to convince the masses that I was but a poor victim of my sister's botched plan."

"And this is where your deep resentment towards your sister grew to the point it was when you murdered her," the cobalt hedgehog concluded as he had a thoughtful look on his face. "It was your way to keep out of trouble from the law and also have some semblance of freedom while not officially tagged as a mentally challenged man. But that sounds like an awful lot of work to continually pull off every single day. I know it was your way of escaping trouble from the law, but was it really worth it in the end?"

"Well, I must admit that the organization did whatever they could to make sure that my way of living was as easy as it could be considering the hole I had dug myself into," Max said with a small shrug. "The only difference between prison time and my hell that I've lived through for the past five years was that I was trapped in my own house. They said that they would assign me a caretaker and take care of any of the legal paperwork that was necessary. I never imagined that it'd be my own sister now reborn as Flora Mae who would be my designated caretaker. I guess they felt that the two of us worked well together even though I now took more of a back seat approach in everything they had us involved in."

"Humph, it sounds like this group you work for is quite organized in their everyday dealings," Mephiles responded as he seemed oddly intrigued by this piece of testimony. "I would suspect that you're right now still under their employment. What would your leader think if he heard you saying all this? I've no doubt that he's probably keeping watch over this case being that you're one of his people."

"I could honestly care less about what they think at this point, Mr. Prosecutor," the witness replied with a huff. "They were the one responsible for ruining my life; I think it's time that I returned the favor and try to ruin theirs. So what if they find a way to kill me while in prison? I've at least done my part to bring them down with me."

"Uh, how about we move onto a less threatening topic?" Tails rhetorically asked as he tried to change everybody's attention to something less morbid and heated. "If you hated your sister so much that you wanted to kill her, then why did you wait until four days ago to do it? You've already displayed here how you hated the organization you were forced into courtesy of your sister; I would expect that you'd go against their word and kill her at the first chance you got. Why would you then just wait?"

"I couldn't because the timing wasn't right. Unlike how it is at this very moment, I never had the chance to be surrounded by the protective walls of the law. I couldn't just very well up and enter the nearest police station since my sister was overlooking my every move. That and it had already been legally proven that I was a mentally incompetent man. Just think about the immense legality issues I'd have to go through before I can try to dismantle the organization. I knew I had to kill her if I ever wanted my chance to rebel."

"So you've just been biding your time since five years ago for the chance to kill your sister and to rebel against the organization you claimed you were forced to work for," the Judge slowly surmised before shaking his head in disappointment. "I still can't believe that you have been holding onto so much hatred towards your sister that you would even contemplate killing her. It's even more unbelievable that you would act mentally incompetent for all this time! However, I must admit that I'm still confused as to why you had to wait for your sister's death before you could say anything against this organization. Do you mind elaborating to the court a bit more on this subject?"

"Well, she had the ability to keep constant watch over me, so that meant I had no freedom whatsoever to myself. Lois has always been loyal to the organization and would willingly rat out anybody who dared to try and speak out against them. And as a prosecutor, that meant she had the ability to bend court rulings to their favor should the case she's working on threatens the integrity of the organization. That's why I was forced to wait for the moment when she was either killed by me or someone else. I just happened to be lucky when the organization leader sent me a package along with a letter giving me permission to kill my sister did I discover I had my chance that I've been waiting for a long time. That's when I knew that I had been presented with a ticket allowing for me to try and take them down!"

"Hmm, I have a feeling that the integrity of this courthouse is going to be severely compromised once today's proceedings is over," His Honor murmured in worry after hearing this explanation. "To think that we have been entertaining a corrupt prosecutor in our court proceedings all this time… I fear what this could mean for the future of the law and the overall reliability the people will put into it. Just how much belief with they have in us should a big case come in with such a shadow hanging over us?"

"…I would suppose you're talking about this Letter that was found in your home," Sonic stated as he showed Max the piece of mail they had recovered during the investigation of the lighthouse. He figured that the Judge was worrying about something that was beyond his league and thus chose to ignore him. That and the old man was more or less just murmuring to himself. "It does detail the facts of the set-up going to take place at the moment you were murdering the victim. In comparison to everything that you've told the court in terms of your confession, it almost sounds like you're a victim just like your sister. Of course, you're a victim of her criminal ways where her boss preferred to drag you into her business so I suppose that would make some degree of sense."

"Whether or not the witness was a victim to his sister's own criminal ways remains to be seen," the old prosecutor stated in an objective tone as he quickly cut through Sonic's train of thought. "However, I don't believe that we should be delving into these questions at this time. After all, discussing whether or not he's a victim has nothing to do with realizing his motive for having committed murder. To be quite frank with you, I honestly have no idea as to why you have felt the need to pick away at a piece of testimony that does nothing but benefit your case in every possible angle."

"You're right, Prosecutor Mephiles; whether or not the witness was indeed a victim to his sister's illegal dealings has nothing to do with the current question at hand," the cobalt hedgehog quickly agreed with the rough prosecutor without putting up much resistance. He then said with a cocky smile approaching his face, "Unfortunately for you, that wasn't the argument I was planning on pursuing regardless whether or not you had pointed it out. What I'm more interested in discussing right now is what the witness just said in regards to the mail he obtained that served as a confirmation for him to kill Lois."

"And what are you so concerned about with regards to the witness's mail, Mr. Sonic?" the other asked with a roll of his eyes in clear annoyance as if he were being forced to take part in a moment of complete ridiculousness. Then again, this was less concerning behavior coming from him in comparison to his other admittedly rougher and borderline brash behavior. "I hardly find the importance in such a trivial matter. Mind you that I have absolutely no objections in you wanting to make a fool of yourself or even discovering something that might end up only hurting your already solid acquittal."

"Well, he did just say something new in regards to the Letter that the court has never heard about before. Namely, it's about this package he said that came in conjunction with the piece of mail. If it doesn't trouble you too much, I would like to ask the witness as to what this particular package was. If the contents of the Letter aren't any indication, then I say that this package is of great importance to the case."

…Who am I to stop the ever curious and redundant mind of an irritatingly questioning rookie defense attorney," Mephiles simply stated with a shrug of his shoulders and a reserved sigh escaping his lips. "Go ahead and continue on your search for the petty and insignificant details your heart so desires to unearth. I'm sure we're all just dying to hear whatever it is you want to figure out."

"Thank you for your patience and understanding, Prosecutor Mephiles," Tails thanked in a tone that seemed to hold the slightest amounts of sarcasm in it. He then said as he shifted his attention back to the witness stand, "Mr. Pryce, do you think you can tell us what it was you received along with the Letter?"

"…I don't see why not," Max responded after a moment's pause and a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "You always want to get as much information as you can in order to come up with something sensible; even I must agree with the prosecution that it almost seems pretty redundant at times. Then again, I doubt what I'm about to say will present much help to you. You should already have it recorded as evidence."

"What're you talking about witness?" the Judge asked with eyebrows raised in confusion at the man's strange response. "How could we possibly already know and have the contents of your package as evidence?"

_**New Statement**_

Well, the package contained a Pistol that I immediately knew was meant to be used in the killing of my sister.

_**End New Statement**_

"So you're telling us that the murder weapon was mailed to your house?" Sonic asked as he raised an eyebrow in question at this. "I'm pretty sure I'm speaking for the entire courtroom when I say that I find the explanation a little hard to believe. I mean, how could someone just mail you a gun without getting caught? I'm sure that the people at the post office check any packages for any kind of suspicious materials, especially in these days where officials are really cracking down on smuggling."

"I wouldn't say that it was given to me by mail more than it was personally brought to my doorstep," Max simply explained. "You see, both the Letter and the gun were delivered to my home without any address or stamps on it. That would mean that someone personally took the time to hand it to me. And before you say anything, it was brought over at a time when Lois was out doing who knows what. That means the gun was meant for me."

"My, this organization that you worked for seems to be quite organized and cautious in order to make sure that the victim didn't catch wind of their plan to assassinate her," the Judge stated in surprise at how the mastermind behind this murder was so calculative. "And how exactly did you keep the Pistol hidden away from your sister all this time?"

"In the same way I hid the Fake Murder Weapon before it ended up being discovered," the witness continued on with his explanation. "While Lois knew a lot about my life and habits because of her being my personal caretaker, I made sure that she never knew about the secret compartment within the clock. It was the only way I could keep anything important hidden from her should the need arise."

"Did you load up the gun yourself or was it already preloaded?" Tails asked as he tried to get more information out of this revelation.

"Objection, Your Honor!" Mephiles quickly exclaimed before the other could even have a chance to add onto his question. "Whether or not the gun was loaded at the time the witness first obtained it is irrelevant. It doesn't change the fact that it was the one to have shot the bullet that took the victim's life!"

"That may be true, but I find it hard to believe that Mr. Pryce would've been able to go out and buy some bullets while under careful watch by his sister," the two tailed fox quickly explained as he tried to hold onto his question. "And if he did somehow manage to escape his sister's watchful gaze, then the court should hear about it. After all, it's quite clear that he had never had any kind of privacy ever since becoming legally mentally incompetent five years ago. That alone is enough to warrant suspicion if he indeed managed to wander around town on his own for even a few minutes!"

"I still fail to see how this provides any relevance to this already unnecessary cross-examination," the old prosecutor bit back, clearly not persuaded by the reasoning presented to him. "Your Honor, I ask that you sustain my previous objection and throw out the defense's pitiful excuse for a question."

"As unnecessary as you feel the question to be Prosecutor Mephiles, I'm afraid that I have to side with the defense on this one," the Judge responded as he shook his head at the prosecutor's demand. "When put in the witness's shoes, it's highly irregular that he would have any chance at unrestricted freedom without his sister watching over him. The objection is hereby overruled! I'll allow the defense's question to be asked."

"Thank you, Your Honor," the orange furred fox thanked with a nod of his head as he cast a blank but triumphant gaze at the prosecutor who only looked back with an odd feeling of clarity and, dare he even think, precision. He then continued on while trying to ignore the oddity, "Mr. Pryce, can you tell us whether or not the gun was already loaded when you were first delivered the Pistol?"

"Well, I never thought about checking the bullets in the thing when I first got it," Max admitted as he had the decency to give off a small frown in embarrassment in his poor hindsight. "In fact, I couldn't comfortably say that I knew it was loaded until the moment I shot and killed Lois with it. I guess I was too excited at the prospect of being able to finally do what I had planned for so long that the bullets were the last thing on my mind."

"That's…pretty unbelievable," Sonic cautiously stated as he gave a half-frown at the statement. "How could a person like you who has been planning on killing his sister for so long forget to check a gun for ammunition, especially when it was hand-delivered to your doorstep? I mean, you do have a pretty calculative mind yourself considering how you claimed to have singlehandedly fool the entire court system into thinking you were mentally challenged when you were first discovered by your sister's dead body five years ago."

"Everyone is entitled to their fair share of mistakes," the witness simply responded as he replaced his frown with a stoic look. "Regardless, my plan to murder Lois went off without a hitch. Of course, I do have to thank the head of our organization for having authorized and given me a chance to pull it off."

"What do you mean by that?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with eyebrows raised in question. "You actually need permission to kill a member of the organization?"

"You can consider the organization I worked for as a sort of mafia family. Every member in the group is considered to be a part of the 'family' and is thus important in their own right. However, should one choose to splinter away from the group without prior consent or dares to try and inflict harm onto the name or structure of the organization, they are then requested by the leader himself to be killed. Naturally, that was the case with my sister in that I was requested to kill her myself. I don't know if he gave me this pleasure because he knew of my toxic relationship with her outside of our work, but I was definitely the best choice being that I was with her for almost the entire day every day."

"Hmm, now I am quite curious as to what exactly this organization is," His Honor responded more to himself as his curiosity was clearly piqued. Sonic was honestly waiting for Mephiles to immediately announce an objection soon to the Judge's upcoming question. "Do you think you could give us more information about it, Mr. Pryce?"

"Unfortunately, I'm pretty low on the chain of command. I can't really say much from my perspective except for what I've already discussed here. The only new thing I can add is that we are a smuggling group who smuggles everything from stolen priceless artifacts to valuable drugs to sell to the black market."

"Objection, Your Honor!" Mephiles quickly objected with a lot more force than he usually used. For some odd reason, he had chosen to object to this admittedly pointless question posed by the Judge after the witness managed to get in a few words rather than cutting him off immediately. It was a small detail, but it raised some flags of suspicion on the defensive team in consideration to the prosecutor's brash attitude. "This has nothing to do with the case at hand nor does it have anything to do with his motive!"

"…I suppose you're right," His Honor responded as he sounded somewhat disappointed at this objection. "I really was so hoping to learn more about this group the witness was working for. In some retrospect, it does raise some questions in the conditions of why the victim was killed. As you said though, my question doesn't have anything to do with the witness's motives. Please continue on with your testimony, Mr. Pryce."

"I hardly find any need to testify anymore," Max responded as he crossed his arms in a defiant manner. "I think I've already answered all of your questions surrounding my motive as well as having added a few interesting tidbits along the way. I've already explained to you my clear motive for having murdered my sister and even stated how I was supplied with the Pistol that killed her. And don't even think about using my sad moment of idiocy on not checking if the gun was loaded first against me; it makes no difference whatsoever. I still managed to successfully do her in with just one pull of the trigger. Just hearing that one satisfying bang of the gun going off and seeing her fall into the waters below was a sight more liberating than any of you could ever imagine."

"I don't think we'd want to imagine something like that," Tails deadpanned as he said what was most likely going on in everybody's mind upon hearing that statement. "I doubt any of us in here has held onto that level of animosity towards another to really wish to feel the satisfaction of seeing another killed."

"Regardless of the last statement, the witness has stated the truth," the old prosecutor replied as he crossed his arms. "You've already exhausted all of your relevant questions regarding his motive for murdering the victim. And as an act of generosity from my good self, I've even allowed some unrelated questions that flew out of your mouths to be let through. Then again, I must admit that I wanted to see you two make fools of yourselves by picking away at testimony that has done nothing but supplement your initial claims. I really was hoping that you would've damned yourselves into losing, but I suppose that's not the case."

Instead of answering to this snide remark, the defense attorney simply chose to stare back at the old prosecutor with a seemingly harsh glare. The two tailed fox was somewhat surprised that his older brother had actually chosen to not say anything about the sarcastic remark clearly meant to have insulted him. However, he was slightly more surprised at the feeling of something brewing inside his brother's mind that he could not help but feel was going to be nothing short of a surprise to everybody in the courtroom. Perhaps he had managed to figure something out from the testimony that his twelve-year-old mind failed to catch.

"I see that you have nothing to say about this, Mr. Sonic. Might I dare venture to say that was exactly what you were planning on doing the moment you decided to dig further into this testimony? But all joking aside; if you're quite done with satisfying your own curiosity by breaking down an otherwise beneficial piece of testimony to you, I ask that you please end this cross-examination and put a period on this case. This is honestly starting to become an annoyance to me in that you're rubbing my face with my embarrassing loss."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"…You're still failing to notice what the witness just said to us, Prosecutor Mephiles," Sonic responded after staying quiet for a few more seconds. This elicited a look of confusion to come across the old hedgehog's face. "Didn't you even listen to his testimony, or were you too busy whining to yourself about how I was going about trying to ruin my chances at winning and thus wasting your time?"

"I must admit that was the thought passing through my mind more than once this whole time," Mephiles admitted with a shrug of his shoulders as though he were simply deflecting a harmless blow directed at him. "I was under the impression that you would do anything in order to prove your client not guilty. You have been employing some rather questionable tactics like trying to stall the courts and repetitively asking unnecessary questions in order to come up with the answers that you've been feverishly seeking."

"Unlike you, I could care less about winning my cases regardless of who my client is," the cobalt hedgehog simply countered as he crossed his arms in a disagreeing manner. "I only ask the witness questions that lead up to the bigger picture in order to gain a better understanding of the overall case. I only raise objections when the situation calls for it unlike a certain someone. And so long as there are unanswered questions that have been raised during this trial, I shall continue to pursue them until I have exhausted all leads. That also includes after realizing that my client is in fact already proven to be innocent of all charges!"

"So you would waste the court's time pursuing a question that has absolutely nothing to do with the acquittal of your client," the old prosecutor surmised as he seemed somewhat peeved at being casually mentioned earlier and quickly dismissing it. "I know that I'm only going to regret asking this, but could you tell us just what exactly the witness just said that answers an unanswered question? My curiosity is honestly getting the better of me here."

"If I may direct the court's attention to Mr. Pryce's last statement, he said that '_Just hearing that one satisfying bang of the gun going off and seeing her fall into the waters below was a sight more liberating than any of you could ever imagine._' It's with this statement that a contradiction with one of the pieces of evidence we have on hand is unearthed!"

"A-a contradiction with the evidence?_!_" the Judge exclaimed upon hearing the defense's claim that easily caused a slight uproar with the gallery. He then asked as he banged at his gavel to try and quiet the gallery, "What exactly are you talking about, Mr. Sonic? What contradiction could there possibly be in the witness's very concrete confession?"

"It's not a contradiction that does any kind of damage to Mr. Pryce's testimony. Rather, it merely raises another avenue of thought regarding _the murder weapon_."

If the court was not already in a state of confusion, then they definitely were now. The people in the gallery were now busy talking amongst themselves in semi-loud voices that even the sound of the Judge's gavel were nearly drowned out. It was clear that nobody was ready to hear something of this magnitude concerning the murder weapon at this stage of the trial.

"Mr. Pryce," Sonic sternly addressed with his arms crossed despite the noise failing to die down and thus being forced to somewhat compete with it. Even Tails was slightly confused as to what his older brother had stewing away in his head this time around. "Do you stand by your latest statement that you've made to the court in that it's the honest truth?"

"Of course it's the honest truth coming out of my mouth," Max responded as he shot the hedgehog a questioning look. "I really don't have much reason at this point to be lying anymore. Just what exactly are you trying to get at with this question? I hardly see how my last statement is of any real importance."

"I'm sure that you don't know this fact, but it's been reported by forensics that the Pistol had been fired twice," the defense attorney explained as the gallery noise finally died down somewhat but still continued on with their chatter. "However, you've just testified to us with certainty that you only shot that gun once the entire time it was in your possession. The only conclusion I can come to with this was that the gun you were sent had already been used once before prior to this murder!"

"Wh-what?_!_" the witness exclaimed as though it were the first time he was hearing this information. For all intensive purpose, that was most likely to be the truth at this point. "How could you possibly come up with something like that? I admit that I killed Lois with that very same gun, but that's all you know about it. You can't go about saying that it's involved in another case!"

"That's not what he said," Tails calmly corrected as he finally understood where his brother was going with this. "He only said that the gun had been used once sometime before the murder. Why would you then go to say that it was involved in another case?"

"Well, that would be the only logical explanation, you know?" the other simply replied as he looked at the two tailed fox with a sort of stubborn glare. "I mean, I'm sure that this gun was at least involved in one of the many cases of reported gunfire that the police have responded to. If it doesn't appeal to you attorneys, then it's at least a case for the police that must've been filed away in their archives."

"And what if it was involved in an incident that the police reported on in the past?" Mephiles asked as if the detail was nothing important despite having introduced a problem with the murder weapon. "As you've just kindly explained to the very confused people in this courtroom, whatever reason the shot was first fired from that gun holds no relation whatsoever to our current case. What you're bringing up is nothing but a further waste of our time."

"You're right; it is a waste of our time," the fox agreed with the prosecution rather smoothly as if what the other had just claimed posed no threat to his overall momentum. "However, we're not saying that this other shot has anything to do with our current case. Rather, we're bringing about another case that so happens to be connected to this trial!"

"What exactly is the defense going on about?_!_" the Judge exclaimed, his face clearly reflecting the confusion that was emanating throughout the courtroom and the now silent gallery members. "What case is connected to this trial? What proof do you have that such a connection even exists?"

"The answer to that lies in the very Pistol that we have in our possession. If you think about it for a moment, was there ever a time that the defendant was able to lay his hands on this weapon before, during, and after the crime was committed? The answer to that is no! As already proven, the gun that was seen by witness Amy Rose was in fact the Fake Murder Weapon. That's already proven to be a fact simply because of Shadow's fingerprints on the fake and that it was found hiding away inside the witness's house where he had no access to!"

"So what of it, my dear young apprentice?" the old prosecutor asked as he seemed highly disinterested in this explanation. "All you're doing is recapping what we already know. I fail to see how this is going to help you prove a connection to a case that you haven't even stated to the court yet."

"If Shadow only held in his hands even for a moment the Fake Murder Weapon, the only time he could've done so was at the docks," the young one explained. "Ever since then, he has been in jail under the constant supervision of the guards. Under those intense conditions, there's no feasibly possible way that he could then touch the Pistol we have here! Yet if you read the notes once more submitted by forensics, it clearly states that his fingerprints were discovered on this weapon!"

"But how on earth is that possible?" His Honor asked as he became even more confused by this explanation. "By both evidence and witness testimony, it's been proven the defendant never once laid a hand on that gun. Then how could it be that his fingerprints are on the weapon? Fingerprints are impossible to forge!"

"…That's because the fingerprints aren't a forgery, Your Honor," Sonic explained as he seemed to slow down his momentum somewhat. "In fact, this Pistol and the prints on it are very important pieces of evidence to another case. While it's true that Shadow never touched this weapon once during the entirety of this case, there was another moment where he did so that happened long before this case even came to be. That was during the time of the LK-9 Incident, the same incident that I'm claiming now is connected to this case!"

"Ha, what a ridiculously asinine claim you're making!" Mephiles vehemently spat out as the courtroom once again erupted in an uproar. "What evidence do you have that the witness even touched a gun during that incident?"

"I heard it from the defendant's own mouth when I spoke with him last night about the matter," the cobalt hedgehog explained as the entire gallery suddenly grew quiet with intrigue. "The defendant said, and I quote, '_The only time I ever touched an actual gun was five years ago during the kidnapping incident involving all of us._' By all of us, he meant me, himself, Tails here, and Detective Knuckles. And the incident he's referring that that involved the four of us was the LK-9 Incident from five years ago! By his own words, it can only be concluded that this gun here was at least present during the LK-9 Incident before resurfacing once more to become a murder weapon in this case. Therefore, it only stands to reason that there's a connection between the two cases if not only by the weapons alone!"

"…This is completely unbelievable!" the Judge quietly spoke to himself as shock was clearly apparent in his voice. "Who would've thought that this case was in any way remotely connected to the LK-9 Incident that saw the death of a great defense attorney and detective duo? Even if it's only such a small connection, I must admit that this is a very interesting one. And if I'm not mistaken, the statute of limitations for that case happens to run out on this very day! Correct me if I'm wrong Mr. Sonic, but are you suggesting that we reexamine that case once more with this small connection as your reasoning?"

"…That's what I plan on doing, Your Honor," the defense attorney confidently responded with a stout nod of his head; Tails also gave the Judge a resolute glare of his own. "I understand that it might not do any good to us all to open up the case once more so that we can go over it for less than a day. We might not even really go any further than the attorneys before us managed to get to. However, in light of new information that has been no doubt presented to us regarding it, it wouldn't hurt to go over the information once more and see if anything has been overlooked and can now be answered."

"Do you even know the things that have to be considered before a trial can even be brought to court?" Mephiles asked as he had an amused evil smile gracing his lips. "You need both a detective well-versed with the key details of the case and a prosecutor who has reviewed the case notes thoroughly enough in order to adequately represent the state. This case has been cold for five years now. I highly doubt that any prosecutor worth their salt has wasted their time reviewing the LK-9 Incident. I most certainly didn't. And if memory serves me right, all of the detectives involved with that case have either retired or passed away. You can't ask the Judge to bring the case to trial without those two key components in existence!"

"I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you on that, Prosecutor Mephiles," a familiarly deep voice coming from the gallery objected. "It just so happens that the two key components you spoke of do in fact exist and are right now in this very courtroom!"

Upon hearing this, both attorneys and the Judge looked towards the gallery where the outburst came from. Once in their sights, they noticed that it was in fact Vector Crocodile standing tall and looking straight at the old prosecutor. Even Senior Detective Silver was standing beside him staring resolutely at Mephiles.

"Prosecutor Vector," the old hedgehog said in a sort of chiding manner with his arms crossed. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your objection to a case that doesn't even remotely concern you? To be quite frank, I'm surprised that you're even wasting your time watching this proceeding when you have other better things to do."

"Unfortunately for you, this happens to be one of my better things to do," Vector calmly replied as his face never once faltered under the intense gaze from the other. "You just so happen to be looking at the very prosecutor who 'wasted' his time going over the details of the LK-9 Incident for the past two years! I'd like to think that I'm more qualified than any of the other prosecutors to oversee this case. In fact, I think I would like to have the honor to do so once this trial is over!"

"And what are you going to do in terms of a detective's recollection of the key details regarding the case? You can't possibly get retired detectives who worked on that case into this courtroom by today. That and I highly doubt that you have access to otherworldly powers that allow to you call upon the recently deceased."

"That's where I come into the picture," Silver finally spoke up in a very serious tone. "During my two years of apprenticeship, my mentor just so happened to be the very detective who you said has died within the year. And as if by coincidence, he was the detective working on the LK-9 Incident and had me help out with the case from time to time. I've been reviewing that case from a detective's point of view ever since during all the free time I've had. Even after he died almost a year ago, I still continued on with his work on the case as a way of paying homage to his memory. With all things considered, I'm the best detective in regards to this case that you're ever going to get today. I'm sure now that you can't really argue that the case can't be brought to trial once more now that these two key elements you spoke of stand right in front of you now."

"…What is it with everybody's obsession with this case today?" Mephiles asked more to himself as he had an unreadable expression reflecting from his eyes. "It's not like you're going to miraculously come up with all the answers just because of the surface of a weapon that has been proven to have been in use then. I don't think I'll ever understand your mindset on this. I suppose, though, that I can't really stop any of you from pursuing this matter. All I ask then is that you do so once this case is over. Don't even think about dragging me into one of your courtroom shenanigans again! I've had enough of that from this case alone."

"…Your Honor, could I ask that you render your verdict now so that we can pursue the LK-9 Incident?" Sonic asked in an attempt to finally close this case as he looked towards the Judge who seemed quite confused about everything. "I hereby end my cross-examination of Mr. Maxwell Pryce and have already proven beyond a doubt that he was the one to have murdered Ms. Lois Pryce who went under the pseudonym of Ms. Flora Mae. The witness himself has already confessed to the crime himself."

"I-I suppose there's no point in further dragging on this case," the Judge responded as he somewhat snapped out of his bout of confusion. "Very well then; in the sole charge of murder, this court finds the defendant. Prosecutor Shadow Hedgehog, not guilty! This case is hereby closed! As such, we shall now give way to the reexamination of the LK-9 Incident. Before we do so, however, I ask that there be a one-hour recess so that both the defense and prosecution can adequately prepare for the trial. Court is now adjourned and will reconvene in an hour to hear the LK-9 Incident!"

With that decree, the Judge slammed his gavel down before making his way to his chambers. It was clear that he wanted some time to clear his head from all of the confusion and chaos that had no doubt boggled the minds of just about everybody today. Without saying a word, Mephiles also made a quick exit of the courtroom with his lips pursed tightly as if he were aggravated about something. All of the members of the gallery had stood up and made their way out with Vector and Silver doing the same. Sonic and Tails merely breathed a sigh of relief at their well-earned victory before packing their things up and walking out into the courtroom lobby to prepare for their case with the LK-9 Incident. And Shadow, who had been sitting quietly in the defendant's chair the entire time, looked at the retreating form of the two with nothing but awe written on his face. He then shook his head in pure amusement at the way things were going before following them out with a small smile on his face.

* * *

><p>Well, that's it for this extremely long and complicated case. Yay!<em>!<em>! To be perfectly honest with you all, this case did not turn out like I had expected it to. So many things ended up changing from now to when I first thought of of this case's concept three months ago. This really proves that a lot can change in a relatively short amount of time. And to be honest, I never even thought about using the Pistol as the link between the current case and the LK-9 Incident until I started writing that part in. Everything about this chapter was on-the-fly, so to speak.

When I had first wrote in the part about the gun having been fired twice, I had already knew that Max only shot out from it once. For those of you paying attention to the evidence, I purposefully left that part of the Pistol unexplained this entire time to kind of create slight uneasiness in you all in regards to the evidence. I hope I did a good job on that, especially since this chapter literally was the work of only improvisation and hardly any kind of concrete planning at all.

And just as another tidbit, now you all know the reason why I had dedicated three chapters during this case to the collection of information regarding the LK-9 Incident. It was so I could prepare you all for this one exact moment. I'm really sorry for that information overload that some of you were experiencing then, but I really had no other way to introduce those particular piece of information in a correct fashion while still staying true to the realness of the story.

But yeah, this is now the official end of this case. No longer do I have to look at this. But now I have to think about how the other case is going to work out. But hey, luckily for me, I've already got a very reliable blueprint for the case written out in my head. All I have to do now is transport it onto my computer here and everything will be fine. Let's just hope it goes a lot more smoothly than this case, but what are the chances of that ever happening?

Now that I've gotten all this out of the way, let me go ahead and stop with my rants. That and it's like 1:30 in the morning here and I'm dead tired. So all I have to say now is to please don't forget to leave a review on your way out of this story. I always read and take into consideration what you all said, so please don't forget to leave one.

And one last thing I want to say before I go. Any and all evidence gathered in this case that has relations to the LK-9 Incident will be transferred into the next case. That's why I had Sonic and Tails go on a information hunt the night before so that they could be somewhat prepared for today's battle. Until the next update everybody!


	28. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 1

Hello everybody! Yes, it's been almost two months since the last time I updated this story. The reason for this is because a couple days after I finished the last chapter, I suddenly yet happily stumbled upon the Young Avengers universe when I saw a picture of Billy and Teddy together. Now I really like shonen-ai stories and pictures, and the person who drew them really made them look cute. And imagine my surprise when I discovered that they were actually a canonical couple! Yay!

As such, I've been writing a story starring those two and have a newfound love of the Young Avengers universe and the events that led up to the events. Yes, I've never watched or had anything to do with X-Men when I was little, and now I really regret not enjoying the series. That and I've never been a comic book kind of guy. Oh well, thank god for the graces of the internet to get me speedily acquainted with the Young Avengers world. That's how I got my information to make the story I'm currently writing on that universe.

But yeah, that's enough about that. This particular story here is about Sonic the Hedgehog. I promise you that this story is almost done. If everything goes as planned, this will all be over in, at the very least, two chapters. But yeah, this is now the case that most of you have all been waiting for, the LK-9 Incident!

Hope you enjoy this new chapter that has been a long time in the waiting. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They always provide me with motivation to continue giving you all new chapters and stories to read. Until the next update to this an any of my other stories everybody!

P.S.,

Please go and read my new story based on the Young Avengers titled, "Apocalypse: The Beginning of the End." It's my first time writing for that universe, and I would like some feedback on how you think the story is. A lot of people are reading it, but nobody's really giving me the feedback or letting me know whether they liked it or not. Thanks for taking the time if you do go to read it!

* * *

><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that this also played some role in the LK-9 Incident.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some kind of connection to the perpetrators of the LK-9 Incident. While a handwriting analysis is desirable, it's impossible to conduct because of a lack of comparison to a specific individual.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. There are four sections in the case file that have yet to be reviewed by the two.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. He has taken upon himself to bring up and try the LK-9 Incident on its last day of life.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. He delivered the evidence from the LK-9 Incident to Vector after learning of someone destroying material linked to the case.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-six-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius and using his current name as an alias. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It is suspected that he might know something concerning the LK-9 Incident.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He has been cleared of murder and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what new details will surface during the trial.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to serve as one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct. He has chosen not to oversee the LK-9 Case after losing to Sonic.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor.

Leukis Kruger: Salemand's eighteen-year-old younger albino lion brother who has been afflicted with the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome. He is apparently a member of Interpol with his name simply a code name. According to Salemand, he has been missing for a few days. As accidentally revealed by Vector, his real name is actually Leon.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 28: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 1<strong>

"Well, we've finally managed to clear you name from that mess," Sonic said with a sigh as he tried to relax on one of the courtroom lobby couches. "And we managed to connect this case the LK-9 Incident and convince the Judge to hear it. Now we just need to see what we can discover and how far we can go."

"Which probably wouldn't be very far considering that you probably don't know that much about it," Shadow deadpanned as he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Although I wouldn't be surprised if you next told me you spent most of yesterday trying to figure out as much as you could about the case."

"Then prepare to not be surprised," the cobalt hedgehog replied as Tails pulled out the LK-9 Case File the two had been carrying around since their visit to Vector's office last night. "This is a copy of the case file that Vector gave us when we met up with Vector last night. He figured we might need it after he gave us his view on it and figuring that we were going to try and bring it up today."

"Well, he must either be very confident in your abilities or you managed to delude him into thinking so," the ebon furred hedgehog stated sarcastically which earned him an annoyed look from the defense attorney. "However that ended up happening, this should mean you already have everything you need in order to properly pursue this incident. I really hope I'm right in assuming so."

"We learned as much as we could about it last night from Vector and Silver," Tails explained as he had in his hands the file that Vector handed to him last night. "I can't say that it'll be enough for us to get any answers, but it's definitely a start. However, we haven't had the chance to really look into this file yet. We'll probably know even more when we use this recess to study it.

"Now let's see what's in here," he quickly continued on as he opened the file and began perusing its contents. "We have three files in here, but I'll start with the first one. It's a basic Case Summary file. It says that a crime had taken place near the lighthouse on Mobius Docks. At that time, it was a sea faring business called 'Prycey Seafood' that specialized in the production and sale of high-end seafood. It was owned by three people, although two of them had lower ownership than the third. It doesn't say who they were, but I'm sure we can safely assume that Lois and Max were the two mentioned here. Upon being spotlighted in this murder, it had since gone out of business and into the lighthouse we know today.

"In terms of the murder, there were two people found dead within the lighthouse's vicinity. One was outside at the front doors of the lighthouse and appeared to have been in a scuffle before dying. Another was found dead inside, but there were no signs of any struggle having taken place. It then says to refer to the autopsy report of both victims for more information."

"Too bad we don't have access to that," Sonic said with a shrug of his shoulders. "But I'm kind of more concerned as to who this third owner was. If this was the scene of a murder, then wouldn't it go to say that there should have been three people who would've piqued the police's interest?"

"Well, that's where the Witness List comes in," Tails explained as he set down the Case Summary and picked up the next file. "According to this, there were four people who were considered by the police to be of relative interest. As suspected, two of them were Lois and Maxwell Pryce. I would guess that this was done before Lois was 'dead' since it doesn't say anything here about her dying. The third person who claimed to be a worker working overtime that night was…S-Salemand Eres?_!_"

"What?_!_" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he immediately got up and peered over his little brother's shoulder. "How is that possible? Does this mean that he was somehow involved in that incident and is now using his position in order to keep himself protected?"

"You two are talking about Salemand Eres who's an Interpol agent, are you?" Shadow suddenly asked which earned him shocked looks from the other two. "Don't look so surprised. Don't you know that I'm regarded as one of the greatest prosecutors in the Prosecutor's Office? Granted that I'm on the rather low end of the scale, but it's allowed me to become acquainted with the occasional Interpol agent every now and then. Salemand just so happens to be one of them.

"However, I highly doubt that he would use his position to protect himself were he really the true culprit," he continued on. "After all, he told me during one of our information trade-offs that he had been investigating that Prycey Seafood business since before the incident occurred. He wouldn't get into detail with me about it since we were only working together for the sake of the LK-9 Incident."

"…And you're saying that he most likely wouldn't openly share information that could potentially fatally damage him later on down the line," the defense attorney finished off after taking a deep breath. "I suppose you could be right about that. I mean, I'm sure the people at Interpol would've noticed something fishy if he really were the murderer."

"Well, let's just hope that really is the truth of it," Tails added as he furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Anyway, there was one more person I didn't get to yet. Let me see where they are… Huh, that's strange," he stated as his eyebrows furrowed even more. "According to this, the fourth person, the overall owner of the business, refused to be questioned by police. They didn't even get a name! They only labeled him as 'the fourth witness'.

"However, they chose not to pressure him further simply because he had an alibi that was made official by witnesses. This might explain why the person's anonymous since they pretty much hold no importance to the case. Before all that, however, it says they did manage to hold the person long enough that they felt compelled to write out their testimony to detectives. It then says to refer to the Witness's Account for more information."

"And they just let the person go like that," Sonic groaned out as if he were hearing bad news. "I mean, an alibi is good and all, but couldn't they at least have questioned them a bit more before letting the matter go? With how it says they put little resistance to his stubbornness, I can't help but feel this might have been someone the police knew in that they actually agreed to keep them anonymous."

"Well, there's no way for us to know now," the two tailed fox said with a sigh before putting down the file and picking up the last one marked as the Victims' Report. "And here's the last file talking about the victims in the case. The first one talks about the person found outside of the lighthouse. He was forty-years-old and went by the name of…Charles Hedgehog." He saw Sonic wince a bit at the mention of the name. "That was…Sonic's uncle. He was a senior detective who was working on a smuggling case at the time. Apparently, he got into a fight with somebody prior to his death.

"The next victim on the list is a twenty-two-year-old woman by the name of Maria Robotnik," Tails continued on as he this time saw Shadow's face falter a bit at the name. "She was a defense attorney working with Charles on the smuggling case. …Apparently, she's also related in some way to Dr. Robotnik. Anyway, it says that she was found in the basement dead with no signs of a struggle. With both reports, it says to refer to their respective autopsy reports for further details."

"…I can't believe it's been five years already," Sonic murmured so softly it was nearly inaudible. "Uncle Chuck only went there when he heard that we had been kidnapped. The cops never did tell me how he died, but I can take a good guess now."

"I still can't believe Maria was actually crazy enough to follow Chuck along," Shadow added as he tightly crossed his arms against his chest. "Then again, I'm not too surprised since she kind of had an impulsive side to her when it came to being protective. She was the one who got me interested in law when I attended her optional classes in general law. Hell, she was the only adult I really trusted enough to say much of anything to."

"Grieving for them isn't going to do you guys much good now." a familiarly deep voice agreed as it cut through their conversation. "All you can do now is keep moving forward and hope you can find some closure during this next trial."

They all turned their attention towards the entrance of the courtroom lobby and saw Vector leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Silver came in a second later and made a beeline for one of the couches. Knuckles also came in with a bag in his hands.

"What are you doing here, Vector?" Shadow bluntly asked as he was the first to regain his composure from both his mellow moment and the crocodile's surprise entrance. "I didn't think it was standard procedure for the prosecution to be visiting the defense in the courtroom when they're opponents in an upcoming case."

"The paperwork that will formalize my role as prosecutor in this is still being worked on," Vector simply explained. "I'm not yet breaking any unspoken code of conduct between us attorneys. And besides, there was something important I had to talk to you guys that just couldn't wait."

"Well, what is it?" the ebon hedgehog quickly asked. It was as though he was trying to make sure that they did not waste any time with unimportant questions that Sonic and Tails no doubt would have been asking. "I would assume that it has something to do with the LK-9 Incident."

"Well, I just got a call from my secretary a few minutes ago. I had requested that she send me a copy of the LK-9 Case File. Long story short, she called back saying that the files, both paper and electronic form, were missing."

"What?_!_" Sonic exclaimed as he immediately got to his feet. Both Shadow and Tails were as shocked as he was but managed to keep their outward display of it from showing. "Are you sure? I thought the Prosecutor's Office and the Precinct kept good care of their case records!"

"Trust me; this isn't something that normally happens," Silver explained as he shook his head in disappointment. "If it's not a murder, then it's somebody hacking into our systems and erasing precious data."

"Why do you say somebody hacked into the system?" Tails asked as he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Couldn't it have been easily accessed by anybody working in either building?"

"That may be true, but not everybody has the passcode that'll allow them to freely alter the data whenever necessary," the senior detective replied. "Only those who have a highly authoritative position in either department can make those kinds of changes. Unfortunately for us, there are quite a few people with that kind of a position, so it's quite impossible as of now for us to pinpoint exactly who the person responsible was. Put on top the fact that they covered their tracks pretty well in what could only be described as spy fashion and we've got a case on our hands that's impossible to solve."

"…In other words, there's no way for us to confront whoever's the one responsible," the cobalt hedgehog concluded as he let out a growl of frustration. "Well, so much for trying to go after the guy and make him or her hand over the paper copies."

"Fortunately for us, there are still two printed copies ever to have been made on those files," Vector added in a fashion that made it sound more like an afterthought. "Tails happens to be holding onto one of them. Silver here has the other copy that was thankfully resting in his locked desk in his locked office which was kept under careful guard by his secretary. They're both printed by permission of a higher-up, so they're as good as the official version. I instructed my secretary, however, to keep quiet about the theft of the files until after this case is over. That means only us six, not including her, knows about this."

"But what if somebody tries to take a look at the files after hearing what's going on today?" Shadow asked with slight concern in his tone despite his stoic demeanor. "They'll no doubt figure out that the files are missing?"

"Fortunately, I instructed my secretary to stall for time and have her put her printing status on those files in queue status," the crocodile explained with an impish smile. "Don't forget that only one person at a time can print out these cold case files. So long as there's somebody at the front of the line, other people can't access it."

"The reason he's doing this is so to prevent a scene that might put an end to the proceeding," Knuckles explained after having been silent since the moment he entered. "From what I've heard back at the Precinct, you barely managed to get the LK-9 Incident brought up. If it comes to the Judge's attention that the actual case files are missing, he might suspect that the two files in play are fakes. That's more than enough to put an end to the proceedings."

"…Boy, you sure know how to think fast on your feet," the two tailed fox said accompanied with a low whistle. "So the files in our hands are the only ones left that exist of the LK-9 Incident. This certainly proves that somebody's desperate enough to make sure that the case doesn't get brought up. But who the hell would be that desperate?"

"On the bright side, we at least still have the evidence on our side," Silver happily added with a smile as he nodded towards where Knuckles was still standing. "That's why Knuckles is here. After discovering the problem with the files, Vector and I immediately arranged for the evidence to be moved to our possession before they were also taken away. Thankfully, he got to them in time and arrived here without incident."

"However, don't think for a moment that I'm going to give you guys the evidence," Vector added as his smile faltered somewhat. "Supposedly, only the prosecution is privy to the evidence of a cold case. Defense attorneys are unfortunately not allowed to handle it."

"Then how the hell are we supposed to be able to hold our end of the fight?" Sonic asked in an exasperated fashion. "All I have on me that I think has anything to do with the LK-9 Incident are the Pistol, the Letter, a Picture that Salemand gave us, and some Notes made by Tails summarizing our discussion with Silver last night. And just for desperateness' sake, I threw in Vector's Account of what he saw during my case involving Ace Sleuth despite it having nothing to do with all this. That's hardly enough to put up a good fight!"

"Actually, we believe that you do have one key piece of evidence that Knuckles said he couldn't find in the evidence room," the senior detective answered in response to the stressed rant. "He couldn't find the gun that was used in the murder, but you've already explained earlier that the Pistol in your previous case was most likely connected to this incident. This means that it was stolen from the Precinct for the sake of the last trial and thus adds more credibility to these two cases being linked."

"And don't think for a moment that I'm just going to leave you out to dry in the courtroom," the crocodile added. "You will get to see the evidence; you'll just have to wait for the right time when I can present it. Either that or you'll have to supply me with an opening. However, I'm sure you'll know that you'll run the risk of having whatever question you're on being put to a stop like that. Sorry in advance if that happens."

"In other words, you two are going to have to work together without accidentally derailing each other beyond recovery," Shadow surmised as he sighed at how the case was going to go down. "Very rarely have I ever heard of the prosecution and defense cooperating on a case; I've never heard of it being done like this. This shall prove to be a very interesting court proceeding. I do hope for both your sakes that you don't make it seem like it was all staged between you two. That's a good way to have the case thrown out and to get you both in serious trouble for backdoor cahoots."

"And how can that happen when there isn't even a defendant's life at stake?" Tails rhetorically asked. "I doubt things could end up being construed as corruption when the key motive for such a thing isn't even present."

"…Actually, there's a chance that there might actually be someone who can be seen as the potential perpetrator," the ebon hedgehog slowly replied as his face turned somewhat grim. "With the information already made present to the court at the end of the last case, the weapon connecting that case to the LK-9 Incident has my fingerprints on it. Even if for technicalities' sake, it might be enough to warrant me as a person of interest. And being that all parties involved with this case know me on a personal level, it could easily be seen as favoritism if you play your cards wrong.

"Now I'm not saying that I'm the one to have fired that gun five years ago!" he quickly retorted upon seeing Sonic about to make some kind of outburst. "All I'm saying is that it might end up that one of you will have to use me as a scapegoat if you wish to proceed further with the case. I'm willing to put my neck on the line again if it means we can get one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of this incident."

"But that's insane!" Sonic exclaimed as he could not hold back anymore. "I'm not going to indict someone who I know to be innocent just for the sake of getting answers. I'm not that desperate."

"Like it or not, it might end up coming to that if the evidence starts to point in my direction," Shadow said as his face remained stoic as ever. "I wouldn't be surprised if the Pistol was already casting a cloud of suspicion over me with the Judge and gallery. If it gets any bigger, then either you or Vector will be forced to name me as a suspect unless you want to be in trouble with the courts.

"And if it does end up getting that far, then I believe you and Tails will be able to bail me out. The two of you together can always come up with the answer when you put your minds to it. And if you two were able to both survive and escape Mephiles' ruthless courtroom antics, then I'm sure this shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"…Do you really have that much confidence in my abilities?" the cobalt hedgehog hesitantly asked. "It isn't like you to be talking like this. You're usually all stoic and acting like you can take care of everything yourself."

"Don't get used to it," the ebon furred hedgehog replied with a snort before stealing a glance at the clock on the wall. "Better yet, you guys should start getting ready for the trail. The recess is almost over. I doubt the bailiff would think that you and the prosecution are merely trying to catch up on old times."

"Yeah, I kind of figured I was starting to overstay my welcome a bit," Vector stated as he took a look at his wristwatch before tightly gripping his headset. "Well, I'll go ahead and prepare for our showdown in the courtroom. Here's to hoping we can get further into this case than the attorneys and detectives before us could."

"And I'll be going along with him," Knuckles replied as he motioned by Silver to follow. "I'm technically not supposed to be in here right now, so I'll take my leave and see you all later."

"Good luck out there," Silver replied as he was the last to leave the lounge. "You and Vector might be working together, but don't let that take your guard down. He'll help you, but he'll also have his competitive flare-ups every now and then. Be careful of those when he gets like that."

"…He's not serious, is he?" Sonic asked Shadow as a nervous chuckle escaped his throat. "Vector isn't going to get all competitive with me on this, is he?"

"He likes to get into friendly competitions every now and then," Shadow admitted with a ghost of a smile on his lips. "But don't let that lead you to believe he won't help you. Out of everybody in the Prosecutor's Office, I find him to be most reliable to go to whenever you need help. And I know that extends to collaboration in cases like this."

"Court is about to begin, Mr. Sonic," the bailiff suddenly came in and announced. "If you would please make your way to the courtroom now."

"Here we go," Tails sighed out as he looked at his brother. "Time to go on what'll probably be the wildest ride of our lives yet."

With an annoyed glance at the two tailed fox, the cobalt hedgehog followed the bailiff out to the courtroom with the other following closely behind. Shadow followed suit a couple of seconds later and headed towards the courtroom gallery in order to see the case unfurl and see how things will turn out.

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place that the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business called "Prycey Seafood". It was owned by three people; two of them were Lois and Maxwell Pryce who owned a lesser percentage of the business. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it closed upon being a spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witness found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 case. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

**Updated Evidence:**

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. The original and digital versions were destroyed by someone; Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

**New Profiles:**

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident.

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><p>Well, I hope that you all enjoyed this new chapter that has been like a couple of weeks in the making. And I'm going to keep this bottom portion of the author's notes short since it's like 1:30 in the morning where I am. I'm tired. So until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!<p> 


	29. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 2

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story. I know, it's amazingly fast compared to the two month hiatus period I had earlier. I just happened to be on a roll and didn't want to stop. that and I've found myself with a lot of free time these past couple of days in order to procure a new chapter for you all to read. Now that the whole "investigation" is completed from the last chapter, it's time to get on to the juicy bits that I'm sure you've all waited ever since I introduced the LK-9 Incident to the story.

I really do hope that you enjoy reading this new chapter as much as I had making it. To be perfectly honest, it was hard to make the court scene for this case seeing as how the case has started out dead with the two attorneys using the same evidence that brought previous investigators to dead ends. The only difference now was the circumstances, but that's hardly enough to make much adequate forward progress. Here's to hoping that I'll be able to pull something great out of my hat with the accidentally limiting information I put myself on.

But yeah, please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. Especially since this is so close to the official end of this story, I would really like feedback as to how you guys liked the story as a whole as well as how I started this new case. Since I've already done all the pre-trial talking in the last chapter, I had decided to just start off with the Judge beginning the proceedings. I figured that it'd be a good way to get right into the action and showcase how serious the trial is going to be from this point on.

Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody! I'll go ahead and leave you with the evidence and profiles that will be in existence for this case.

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that this also played some role in the LK-9 Incident.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some kind of connection to the perpetrators of the LK-9 Incident. While a handwriting analysis is desirable, it's impossible to conduct because of a lack of comparison to a specific individual.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. The original and digital versions were destroyed by someone; Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place that the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business called "Prycey Seafood". It was owned by three people; two of them were Lois and Maxwell Pryce who owned a lesser percentage of the business. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it closed upon being a spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witness found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 case. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident despite the clear lack of a defendant. He wishes to obtain more information on the case in its last day of legal life.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. He delivered the evidence from the LK-9 Incident to Vector after learning of someone destroying material linked to the case.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-six-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius and using his current name as an alias. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It is suspected that he might know something concerning the LK-9 Incident.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He has been cleared of murder and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what new details will surface during the trial.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to serve as one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct. He has chosen not to oversee the LK-9 Case after losing to Sonic.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor.

Leukis Kruger: Salemand's eighteen-year-old younger albino lion brother who has been afflicted with the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome. He is apparently a member of Interpol with his name simply a code name. According to Salemand, he has been missing for a few days. As accidentally revealed by Vector, his real name is actually Leon.

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident.

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><p><strong>Chapter 29: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 2<strong>

"Court is now in session!" the Judge announced a minute with a bang of his gavel after everybody was in their correct positions in the courtroom. "Are both parties ready to adequately present their case?"

"The defense is ready, Your Honor," Sonic replied as Tails gave a sure nod of his head beside him.

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor," Vector answered in a cool fashion. And just like the first time Sonic encountered him in a courtroom, he was fiddling with the headset resting on his neck.

"Very well, then let's get this trial underway!" His Honor stated. "As you all know, this trial is quite unique. We're right now opening up the LK-9 Incident, a case that's five years old, under the claims the defense has made about connections with the previous case. However, today is the last day that it can ever be brought up to a court of law, so I ask both sides to refrain from wasting the court's time with petty and unimportant details. I will not hesitate to put an end to this trial if that should occur.

"Now that I've adequately warned you both, will the prosecution go ahead and begin with their opening statement?" he continued as he brought his attention to the prosecution.

"Gladly, Your Honor," the crocodile said as he nodded his head in acknowledgement to the earlier warning. "The LK-9 Incident revolved around the murder of two people who had a career in the world of law. They were Senior Detective Charles 'Chuck' Hedgehog and Defense Attorney Maria Robotnik. They were found murdered at the Mobius Docks Lighthouse, the scene of a crime from the previous trial held. The reason they were murdered was simply because they had went to the lighthouse in order to rescue four kidnap victims that were meant to deter them from the case they were working on.

"If it would please the court, I would like to present the autopsy reports for both victims," he added as he procured from his desk two files. He then said as he opened one, "For Senior Detective Charles, he was found dead with bruises covering his body. They were also apparent on his knuckles, and it has thus been proven that he had been engaged in a fight prior to dying. As to the cause of death, it was a result of a clean and heavy blow to the side of his head with a blunt object. The weapon has never been recovered, but it's believed that it was thrown away into the river.

"And now I'll move onto Maria's Autopsy Report. She was killed by a single bullet that shot straight through her skull. Upon close examination, there were traces of gunpowder residue on the back of her head, indicating that she was shot at point-blank range from behind. There were no signs of a struggle, so she was either taken by surprise or held hostage by her killer before dying. Thankfully, the weapon was recovered and has been in the defense's possession since the start of the previous case."

"What exactly do you mean, Prosecutor Vector?" the Judge asked with clear confusion in his voice. "How could the defense possibly be in possession of a piece of evidence regarding the LK-9 Incident at this time? I highly doubt that they were able to simply stroll into the evidence room at the Precinct and ask to take it out."

"I believe I can explain that in adequate detail, Your Honor," Sonic spoke up as he showed the court the Pistol. "As you'll all remember, this Pistol was the weapon used to Murder Ms. Lois Pryce in the previous case. However, you will also remember that I also used this to prove a connection of sorts to the LK-9 Incident. In fact, it's only with help from the prosecutor that I've learned this was used in the murders of that case. Namely, it was used to kill Maria Robotnik!"

"Are you saying that this Pistol was once in the evidence room and was somehow taken in order to become a weapon in another murder?" the old man questioned with shock evident in his voice. "My god, what exactly is going on at the Precinct?_!_ It sounds almost as if there's someone so casually breaking the law and committing serious crimes!"

"Be that as it may, the fact remains the weapon used to murder Maria is now in the hands of the defense," Vector coolly replied as if it were no big deal as he fiddled with his gold chain. "Once this case is over, I'll file a petition personally that there be an intense investigation of the Precinct from an outside organization. As you've stated, it's clear that there are some shady shenanigans taking place.

"Apart from that, I would like to move on with the case. I request that Senior Detective Silver Hedgehog take the stand and testify as to the conditions of the scene of the murder when first discovered."

"Very well; the witness may take the stand!"

With that decree, Silver was seen quickly making his way to the witness stand ready to answer whatever questions were to be thrown his way.

"Name and occupation please," the crocodile said as per court protocol.

"Silver Hedgehog, senior detective at the local Precinct," the detective introduced himself. "While I've had no jurisdiction to the LK-9 Incident at the moment it started, I've assumed the role of head investigator as I'm the only detective in the Precinct who knows enough of the case. As such, I'm acting as head investigator for the sake of this trial."

"Alright, then can you please provide the court with an account of how the scene was set up when the police had arrived? I understand that it may not be an accurate description, but I'm sure that we'll be able to overlook it due to the special circumstances of this trial."

"I'll do my best."

"Well, here we go," Sonic murmured to Tails as he let out a deep sigh. "Time to finally get this show on the road. Let's just hope this doesn't become a crazy circus act like the last case was."

"And what are the chances of that happening?" Tails asked as he let out an amused chuckle. "Don't forget people before us couldn't get anywhere with the case. It'd probably take another bout of insanity in order to really learn more."

"Oh, I figured you'd say that," the cobalt hedgehog replied with a groan as he prepared himself to listen to the testimony.

_**The Scene of the Crime**_

In the LK-9 Incident, two people were murdered in their attempt to rescue four kidnap victims. They were reportedly held hostage at the lighthouse on the Mobius Docks. Senior Detective Charles Hedgehog was found dead just outside the lighthouse heavily bruised and bleeding from the head. Defense Attorney Maria Robotnik was found later inside the lighthouse with a gunshot wound to her head. All witnesses on scene were questioned, but no leads have arisen from them. As such, the case has since been in a standstill.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Hmm, it sounds almost like when the case was first brought to court five years ago," the Judge replied as he had a thoughtful look on his face. "I've doubt much has changed since then."

"If that were the case, then why has Your Honor chosen to allow this case to be brought to trial?" Sonic countered as he mulled over the testimony just made. "I'm sure that the connection I've made earlier has made room for more investigation into this. The testimony my generally be the same, but the situation surrounding it is completely different."

"Whether or not conditions are different from then and now remains to be seen," Vector said as he began listening to music through one side of his headset. "Let's take care of one thing at a time and try to get a clearer picture of what exactly transpired that day. And I ask that the defense try not to bite off more than they can chew," he added in a cocky tone. "This case hasn't been put in cold storage all this time for no reason."

"Thanks for the friendly warning, prosecutor," Tails said as he took note at the genuine warning in the prosecutor's tone. However, he still could not help the feeling of annoyance at the cockiness in it. "Then let us go ahead and see if we can unearth more to this case than the attorneys and detectives of the past could. Let's start off by scrutinizing the good detective's testimony."

"I'm more than happy to second that motion," the cobalt hedgehog replied with a sure nod of his head. He then added in a low whisper so that only his little brother could hear, "And here's to hoping that we can get further into this than the initial investigators could."

"If you can handle Mephiles's strong attack, then I'm sure you'll be able to blow some new leads into this cold case," the two tailed fox stated in an encouraging tone. "For now, let's just handle everything one step at a time."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"First off, you stated that there were four kidnap victims prior to Charles and Maria's deaths," Sonic stated as he tried to ignore the bitter feeling forming in his stomach. "I would assume then that the LK-9 Incident was born because of the kidnapping."

"You'd be right on that," Silver replied with a nod of his head. "Although the start of the case was officially stated as when the murders occurred. All the kidnap victims survived the ordeal, so at least that was something going for the police there."

"It's sad, however, how we lost two good people in law enforcement," the Judge replied in a sad tone as he shook his head at the memory. "By the way, where exactly are the victims of the kidnapping? Perhaps we should hear from them if they're readily available."

"If it would please the court, you've already seen all four of them," Vector answered as he looked over at the defense. "Mr. Sonic and his assistant Tails are two of the victims from said case. Detective Knuckles and Prosecutor Shadow were the other two involved.

"However, they were proven to not have any information that was pertinent to the investigation," he quickly added as the court started to talk amongst themselves. "They were all questioned and said that they were held in a windowless room and had no opportunity to have seen their kidnappers. Therefore, to hear from them of their account would both be a waste of time and an unnecessary evil on our part to make them remember."

"I second that motion even if only on personal grounds," the cobalt hedgehog agreed with a nod of his head. "For the four of us, this event isn't something that we'd like to get too deep into personal detailing. It adds nothing new to the case."

"Well, I suppose we can skip over your testimonies since both sides of the court are in agreement," the old man replied somewhat uneasily as he regained order in the courtroom. "Now if you would please continue on with the cross-examination?"

"If it would please the court, let us move onto the lighthouse in question," the defense attorney quickly moved on as he tried to get away from the uncomfortable air that was hanging in the air. "That building is the same crime scene as from our earlier case. However, the difference between these two cases is the five-year gap. How much would you say that the lighthouse has changed during those times?"

"That lighthouse has changed drastically during that timeframe," Silver explained as he recalled what he studied up from the past couple of years. "At the time of the LK-9 Incident, it was actually a privately owned business called 'Prycey Seafood'. It was a business that dealt in the production and sale of high-end seafood. It had been debunked in the weeks following the start of the murder five years ago. It was quite sudden seeing as how they were still doing good business despite the murder, but we can only speculate whether or not that was the reason for the abrupt closing."

"Do you know who the owners of the business were then?" Tails asked despite having already known what the answer was. "I'm sure the police had some questions to ask them since the crime was committed on their property."

"There were three owners altogether, but this entire courtroom should already know of two. Those two are the people who have been introduced to us in the case connected to this, Maxwell and Lois Pryce. The third owner was left anonymous during the course of the investigation. I've asked questions as to whom this person was, but I failed to find any more information on the subject. However, it was discovered that he was the leader of the business being that he held the majority of the business's stock."

"How is it that one can remain anonymous in the events of a criminal investigation?" the two tailed fox asked with an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Seeing as how the business was the scene of a murder, wouldn't it only stand to reason that the owners would be questioned by the police? After all, the crime took place under a place that's under their personal jurisdiction. I'm sure their names would have to be recorded at some time."

"The only way I can think of where they can avoid being named in an investigation is if they have strong ties with someone in the force. Allow me to say that this doesn't automatically say that there was some sense of conspiracy taking place then. It could be that it was found he had nothing to do with the case and was thus conveniently left out of the naming process. It's not entirely impossible despite it being a rather uncommon occurrence."

"Judging by what the last case ended up unearthing, I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up that we're looking at another moment where illegal activities were taking place in the Precinct then," Vector stated in a thoughtful fashion. "However, there isn't any evidence that states such an assumption as fact, so it's pointless to be advancing down this avenue. So how about we move onto something else?"

"…Fair enough," Sonic agreed with a shrug of his shoulders after a moment's thought. "I also think it best we move onto something else. Detective, do you mind telling me how many witnesses there were exactly and when they were questioned?"

"Well, excluding the four kidnap victims, there were four people who were questioned immediately after the discovery of the murder," the detective began to explain. It seemed like he really was prepared to answer any and all questions thrown his way despite not being the original lead investigator on the case. "Naturally, they were the three owners and a worker who happened to have been working overtime that night. Their testimony has been recorded but ended up unearthing nothing new to the whole investigation. As such, the case has been in a standstill and kept away from the courts until today."

"So you're saying that they all provided the police with their account of what they did that night," the cobalt hedgehog stated as he repeated what was just said. "They all spoke with a detective and provided their accounts, right?"

"That's what I said," the detective replied with a brow raised in confusion. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Mr. Sonic, I hope you're not repeating the detective's words just because you find it funny to do so," the crocodile objected with an annoyed sigh escaping his lips. However, his eyes seemed to have a knowing glint to them as if he knew what the hedgehog was trying to lead up to. "If you have something important that you want to mention, then hurry up and get to it. None of us are in the mood for games."

"Mr. Sonic, are you suggesting that there's something of contradictory nature in the detective's testimony?" the Judge asked as he glanced over at the defense.

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Detective Silver," Sonic started as he failed to answer the Judge's question. "Just now, you've testified to the court that all the witnesses present at the scene of the crime save the kidnap victims were immediately questioned. Do you stand by that statement?"

"Of course I do," Silver replied with a sure nod of his head. "Those are the facts that I've studied up on since I first took interest in this case. Is there something wrong?"

"Unfortunately, there is," the cobalt hedgehog said as he pulled out the Witness List from earlier. "If you read this list, it reports on the four people who were at the business the moment the murders took place. It clearly states that three of them gave their testimony and also named as witnesses in the investigation. However, we run into a problem when it comes to the fourth person. Apart from being anonymous, he also managed to have his request for refusing to provide testimony be granted. How can you say then that every single witness at the time was fully questioned?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I must object," Vector quickly countered as he produced a piece of paper from his desk. "That argument isn't going to hold up very well. While it does say on that list that the fourth person refused to provide testimony, it doesn't put into account what happened later. You see, the person apparently had a change of heart and did, in fact, submit a written version of his testimony to investigators. I have his Written Statement right here."

"The court accepts it into evidence," the Judge announced as the paper was put on the overhead monitor for all to see. Unfortunately, he seemed to be having trouble reading the evidence from his position. "Do you mind reading to us what it says, Prosecutor Vector? The handwriting is kind of hard to read through the overhead."

"It'd be my pleasure," the crocodile replied as picked the paper up and cleared his throat. "Here's what it says: '_First off, I would like to keep in mind that I prefer to have my identity withheld from this investigation. It should be clear that I have no connections whatsoever to the unfortunate murder that took place. After all, I was nowhere near the lighthouse at the time of the incident. I was out conducting other business that happened to be more pressing. As such, I feel it redundant that the police are wasting their time questioning a man who clearly has no relation whatsoever to their case. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that you're merely questioning me because my business happened to be the backdrop for this unfortunate incident. I find it embarrassing that I must associate myself with the dealings of the Precinct system on a daily basis._'"

"Hmm, I've forgotten about that piece of evidence," Silver admitted as he kept his gaze on the Written Statement. "Then again, I haven't shuffled through the evidence for this case since I was interning for my mentor who was in charge of the initial investigation. I apologize to the court for accidentally leaving out this detail."

"The court does not hold this against you," the old man assured the detective with an understanding glance. "After all, you only know what you know based off of the information you've studied on from your mentor and his partners."

"But still, I kind of find this Written Statement to be a bit peculiar," Tails wondered out loud as he seemed to heavily scrutinize the new piece of evidence. "The whole statement is written quite normally considering the circumstances. However, the last part is kind of sticking out to me. I mean, the last statement seems to indicate that the witness had some kind of ties within the law if he's repeatedly dealt with the Precinct."

"I've noticed that, as well," Vector agreed in a stoic tone. "I've tried to dig up some leads with my own detective agency as to see if we can identify our anonymous fourth witness, but we've unfortunately come up short. Either he had retired soon after the incident or simply had ties to the Precinct through a person who was already a member of the force. Regardless, this is also another dead-end if you're planning on trying to pursue it."

"Boy, you sure read my mind there," the two tailed fox in amusement as he crossed his arms in further thought. "If what you say is the truth, then how exactly are we going to figure out who the writer of this statement is? While I do admit that this document is as good as a notarized statement being that it was recorded in the presence of an investigator, I feel uneasy about the person him or herself. I'd rather that the person be in the courtroom testifying before us instead of just sitting around behind the scenes."

"But that's quite impossible," the Judge stated as he shook his head at this suggestion. "Apart from the fact that we have no way to identify who exactly this person is, we've no idea where exactly they are at this exact moment."

"…Hey, wait a minute!" Sonic suddenly exclaimed as he began digging through his compilation of evidence before taking out the Letter. He then asked as he put it up on the overhead next to the Written Statement, "I think I can find a way to bring us closer to the identity of the mysterious witness. I mean, just take a look at this Letter first discovered in the lighthouse basement from the previous case. Doesn't the handwriting from these two documents look identical to one another?"

"…Well, I believe you're right!" the old man replied with surprise clear in his words. "I'm no handwriting expert, but even I can see that the writings are identical. But what exactly does this mean?"

"It means that the person who claimed he had no relation to the case five years ago was most likely lying!" Tails explained as he quickly came up with the only logical conclusion. "I'm sure you all remember how this Letter spoke of details that only the murderer from the previous case would know of. It also makes reference to the LK-9 Incident itself! It only stands to reason that whoever that mysterious fourth witness was does in fact hold great importance to this case and has somehow managed to keep his name out of the investigative reports so he won't be connected should an event like today happen."

"So you're saying that this person thought this far ahead in keeping his identity hidden when he made himself anonymous?" Vector asked as he played with the cord of his headset with intrigue. "I agree that this does make good sense in the scope of things. However, you can't really expect the court to entertain this idea at this time."

"And why not?" the two tailed fox asked.

"While I do admit this brings us closer to whom exactly this person is, it still doesn't provide us with a name. If we could have a handwriting analysis done, then it'll solve all of our problems. However, that can't be done since we lack a person of interest to compare it to. And even if we do somehow manage to get a name, there's no guarantee that the person may even be alive. This might end up being one of those infamous dead ends that first brought this case into cold storage."

"Then let's ask Detective Silver about it," the cobalt hedgehog suggested as he turned his attention to the witness stand. "Detective, do you remember ever seeing or hearing of the person who was responsible for drafting the Written Statement?"

"Unfortunately, I've got nothing," he replied in an apologetic tone. "You see, the case happened two years before I started interning at the Precinct. Even then, I wasn't privy to those kinds of sensitive information. I've only became very involved with the case the moment I was employed as a full-fledged detective. And through all that time, I've never ran into the name of the anonymous fourth witness. It never crossed my mind to ask my mentor about it until he unfortunately passed away."

"And so we find ourselves at an impasse," the prosecutor concluded with a shrug of his shoulders. "While I do admit that this fourth witness is of great interest, that's all we can conclude. Unless we can figure out his identity, we can't move further into this case. It is thus in my personal opinion that we cannot move on. We can't very well go asking Lois about who her partner was seeing as she's now dead, and I highly doubt her brother would be cooperative in all this."

"Hmm, it seems as though the defense has run out of legroom to produce any further productive arguments on the subject," the Judge noted as he seemed deep in thought. "As long as this issue stands in our way, I find it infeasible that we'll be able to get any further. However, I do commend the defense in that they managed to get slightly further than the investigators from five years ago could."

"And it's our belief that we can go even further, Your Honor," Sonic quickly spoke up before His Honor could say anymore. "While it's true that Mr. Pryce will most likely prove to be of no help to us, there is still one more person who can possibly shed some light on all this. The defense requests that the worker from that night, Salemand Eres, takes the stand and testify! He was clearly identified as having been there at the time of the murder, so perhaps he can be of some help to us beyond just identifying his boss."

"B-But how can you be so sure that he's even still alive after five years?" His Honor asked in an uncertain fashion. "And even if he's alive, he might be on the other side of the planet now."

"I assure you, Your Honor, that Mr. Eres is both alive and within close distance of this courtroom," Vector announced, inciting a few murmurs within the gallery. "I happen to know him on a personal level, and I can arrange for him to arrive at this courtroom to testify. All I ask is that you allow me fifteen minutes to bring him here."

"Hmm, are you sure that he'll be able to arrive in such short notice? After all, it's unheard of for anybody to ever appear in court without so much as an advanced request."

"I promise you that he'll be here," the crocodile promised as his eyes seemed to plead with the Judge to honor his request. "If there is any way left to possibly identify our anonymous witness, then we should explore that possibility to the best of our abilities. All I ask is that you allow the trial to be suspended for fifteen minutes!"

"… … …Very well," the Judge begrudgingly granted the prosecutor's request after a long pause. "The prosecution's motion is granted. The trial shall be put on hold for fifteen minutes. Go ahead and summon Mr. Eres here to the courtroom, Prosecutor Vector. Have him come in here immediately upon arriving. And note that I'll only wait on him for fifteen minutes. This case cannot be kept waiting if you all hope to proceed further."

"Thank you, Your Honor," he thanked before quickly rushing out of the room with his cell phone in hand. Silver followed closely behind as he saw he was no longer needed to testify upon the witness stand.

"Well, looks like we managed to drag Salemand into all this," Sonic whispered to Tails. "He said he had details concerning this case but couldn't say anything without breaking the rule of secrecy with Interpol. However, we can see a clear connection with him and the case now that we know he was working undercover as a worker at Prycey Seafood on the day of the incident. Perhaps that'll be enough to loosen his tongue without fear of retribution."

"But what about his little brother Leon?" Tails asked as he pulled out the Picture from their compilation of evidence. "I don't think he's ever been found yet. Either that or we just never received word of him being found."

"As much as I'm worried there, let's just try to concentrate on this case," the cobalt hedgehog stated as he could not help but stare at the photo with slight worry reflecting in his eyes. "We've got enough on our mind as it is without worrying about something the Chaotix Detective Agency is already working on. Let's just pray here that Salemand really will be able to give us more information when he gets here."

"Provided that he can even get here in less than fifteen minutes," the two tailed fox groaned out as the gallery started to talk amongst themselves in boredom. They were clearly intrigued with what was transpiring and could not wait to hear what was going to happen next with the supposedly dead case.

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he was in a fight prior to dying. The weapon has never been recovered.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at point blank range and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Written Statement: A statement written by the fourth anonymous witness in the LK-9 case. They speak of how they can't be a suspect because of having performed important business elsewhere. The person also hints that they might have some kind of connection at the time with the local Precinct.

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><p>Well, that's if for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I had writing it. This is the start of the trial for this case. Hopefully, our fellow attorneys will be able to uncover the answers before they either run out of steam or use up all their time. Talk about playing with fire while walking on razor sharp glass.<p>

But yeah. I really need to stop staying up so late here. It's like almost three in the morning here where I'm at. Oh by, am I tired. As such, this ending author's note will also be very short. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful and can also unintentionally give me inspiration as to how the next chapter will be structured. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!


	30. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 3

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story that you all were no doubt waiting ever so patiently for it to come into existence and read. Sorry that it took a while for this to come out. I was busy trying to raise up my grades for college and could not handle this kind of very complex thought while intensely studying. However, I then started work on a less stressful story that did not have me like constantly study up on what I was writing to make sure I was not contradicting myself. It was really more of a way to help me relax which then ended up becoming a new story that I posted on here.

For those of you who don't know, the story is called "Apocalypse: The Beginning of the End". It takes place during a zombie attack and uses the characters from the comic book universe, "The Young Avengers," the very first American comic I've ever read starting one month ago. Yes, I went through 20 years of life without reading a single American comic until this series, and I'm glad I did since it's a pretty good series. The only problem is that I sometimes get confused since it apparently cross-references with previous events in past Avengers series. Oh well, nothing that a good check on Wikipedia can't fix, right? Funny enough how I used it to make the Young Avengers story before I even read any of the comics.

But yeah, that's enough about my personal life and stories that isn't even this current one. Let's get back to the main topic. I hope that you do enjoy this new chapter that will prove to be very interesting. This was definitely the hardest one I ever had to write as I'm sure you'll understand once you read it. It literally took me a whole week to write it out once I got back into the groove of things. And yes, my classes ended a week ago; so I was able to spend a lot of time for this new chapter.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story you want to read, though. They are always very helpful, especially when you point out mistakes that I accidentally made or just you asking for clarification on something. They also help in a encouraging fashion in that it keeps me writing this and my other stories so you can all continue reading and see the events unfold. And thanks to **Princess Toady**, the most recent reviewer who has been reviewing my chapters. They are real helpful and really makes me happy to hear you really enjoying the story and also getting occasionally confused. That means I'm doing something right with the whole mystery aspect.

And just one more thing before I shut up and leave you all alone to read. I will change very minor details in some of the evidence and the profiles starting now. It's nothing too major that it derails my plans or will confuse you; it's just things that need to change in order to complete what I already have in mind. That and it's also to correct some mistakes that I accidentally made with both the type and how the evidence is supposed to be interpreted. With all this out of the way now, until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that this also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some kind of connection to the perpetrators of the LK-9 Incident. While a handwriting analysis is desirable, it's impossible to conduct because of a lack of comparison to a specific individual.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. The original and digital versions were destroyed by someone; Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place that the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business called "Prycey Seafood". It was owned by three people; two of them were Lois and Maxwell Pryce who owned a lesser percentage of the business. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it closed upon being a spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witness found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 case. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he was in a fight prior to dying. The murder weapon has never been recovered.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at point blank range and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Written Statement: A statement written by the fourth anonymous witness in the LK-9 case. They speak of how they can't be a suspect because of having performed important business elsewhere. The person also hints that they might have some kind of connection at the time with the local Precinct. The handwriting seemingly matches with that on the Letter and hints that this witness might have something to do with the previous case.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident despite the clear lack of a defendant. He wishes to obtain more information on the case in its last day of legal life and to try solving it.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now watching the proceedings of the LK-9 trial. He delivered the evidence from the LK-9 Incident to Vector after learning of someone destroying both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-six-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius and using his current name as an alias. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It is suspected that he might know something concerning the LK-9 Incident.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He has been cleared of murder and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what new details will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct. For unknown reasons, he has chosen to refuse to preside over the LK-9 trial.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor.

Leukis Kruger: Salemand's eighteen-year-old younger albino lion brother who has been afflicted with the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome. He is apparently a member of Interpol with his name simply a code name. According to Salemand, he has been missing for a few days. As accidentally revealed by Vector, his real name is actually Leon.

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 30: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 3<strong>

"Do you think Salemand and Vector are going to make it here on time?" Sonic whispered to his little brother as he leaned on his table in a rather unprofessional fashion. It had been ten minutes since Vector went out to contact the black cat to try and bring him in to testify. They were quickly losing both time and patience with the Judge who constantly stole glances at the clock above the courtroom entrance. "They're cutting it pretty close. The Judge doesn't look like he's going to entertain us trying to stall for more time when the fifteen minutes are up and the two of them aren't here. He most likely knows that we're just grasping at straws and trying to keep this case open."

"I'm sure he'll be here," Tails replied in a sure tone that was in complete contrast with his worried look. "We've already tied him in with the LK-9 Incident since his name was mentioned in the Witness List. You can't possibly be any more connected than that. If anything, he should be allowed to testify about what he knew and saw at the time without fearing the repercussions of his higher-ups.

"However, I wouldn't put it past him in that there's a limit to exactly how much he can say," he continued on as he seemed to recall something. "Remember what he told us when he visited us in Vector's office last night? He said he'll tell us what he can about this case if we could make him abide by the rules of our jurisdiction. But I have a feeling what we used to connect him isn't going to make him say a whole lot."

"_What I mean is that you might end up accidentally exploiting a loophole that was purposefully created by my employers for specific reasons. Since I'm currently within the jurisdiction that you work under, I have to abide by your rules. As such, you can pull out as much information as you want out of me provided you can give me a suitable reason as to why I should answer you under the rules of your jurisdiction._"

"Oh yeah," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he recalled the conversation his little brother just repeated. "He did say something like that. I guess he was talking about an occasion like this. So you're saying that he's now obligated to answer whatever we ask him now that we've exploited his work's loophole?"

"Uh, not exactly. I mean, we did uncover a loophole, but he'd probably only tell us what he's supposed to say in order to satisfy the court. I wouldn't put it past him to be thinking like that so as to keep from spewing otherwise classified information. We'd probably have to make the hole even bigger to make him give us some more in-depth information. I'm sure you feel the same as me when I say that there's more to this than what we can see, especially when Shadow said earlier that he was already working undercover five years ago. If we want answers, then we're going to have to make him talk."

"So you're saying we'll probably have to find even deeper connections concerning him and dig up whatever secrets lie in this case before he talks about what he was undercover for," the other concluded as he let out an annoyed groan. "Great, as if our job wasn't already hard enough without having to deal with him. Why can't anything for once go our way with this stupid case?"

Before he could say anything else, the doors to the courtroom suddenly opened. Vector had come back from trying to get Salemand to come and testify in court about what he knew concerning the LK-9 Incident. However, it looked as though he was completely alone with nobody following him into the room.

"Now that Prosecutor Vector has returned, I would like for court to reconvene," the Judge announced before banging his gavel to restore order in the courtroom. "Prosecutor Vector, did you manage to bring Mr. Eres here to testify?"

"Uh, I'm afraid we might have run into a slight problem with that, Your Honor," Vector responded with some hints of hesitancy in his words. Both Sonic and Tails found it strange that he who was usually confident to a fault was suddenly hesitant. "You see, we kind of hit a bit of a snag during the break."

"What kind of a snag?" Tails asked with trepidation as he saw his brother's shoulders tense and his fists tighten. To say that they both felt a bit uneasy about the coming answer was a complete understatement.

"Well, I did manage to get into contact with Mr. Eres. However, he happened to be in a meeting with his executive at the time. Needless to say, his boss overheard our conversation and told Salemand to hold off on coming to testify."

"Are you saying that he isn't able to come by?" Sonic nearly shouted as a crestfallen look dawned on his face. "But he's the only witness we have left! Didn't you tell his boss that the court requested his presence?"

"He said he needed to review the conditions of the summons before he can make a decision," the crocodile explained as he shook his head. "Until then, he told us to continue on for the time being without Mr. Eres's testimony."

"B-But that means we have nothing else to work with if he doesn't come over and testify!" the two tailed fox breathed out, his bottom lip bruising a bit from being in between clenched teeth. "Without him, we won't be able to figure out who the fourth witness from that day is!"

"Th-then how about we ask for Ace Sleuth to testify?" the cobalt hedgehog quickly suggested out of desperation. "The defense has reason to believe that the ex-detective can impart to us some information regarding this case. Perhaps we'll be able to discover something that'll help give us an idea to work with."

"Normally, I would ask what your reasons for calling an otherwise unrelated witness would be," the crocodile said with a frown. "However, it's completely unnecessary this time around. You see, I heard from Prosecutor Shadow during the recess about the ex-detective. It was right after I had finished contacting Mr. Eres. Despite having been in protective custody since he was arrested, Mr. Sleuth was found murdered in his safe house!"

"Wh-What did you just say?_!_" the Judge exclaimed as the court began talking amongst themselves upon hearing this shocking news. "How is this possible? I remember the case concerning the man, and I remember Prosecutor Shadow telling me the conditions of why he wanted Mr. Sleuth to be placed under protective custody. How could a man placed under such tight security be not only discovered but then murdered? Who else could've known about the ex-detective's whereabouts?"

"As a trusted friend, Shadow had chosen to indulge to me as to where he chose to hide Mr. Sleuth. I can assure you that nobody except the two of us knew of the man's whereabouts from the time of his arrest until his murder.

"However, I can say for certain that neither of us had the opportunity to kill him," Vector quickly added as suspicious eyes quickly roamed to the crocodile and the ebon hedgehog sitting in the gallery. "You see, somebody had sent an anonymous handwritten note to the police department stating the address he was hiding out in. Needless to say, the police arrived and found him dead. A preliminary autopsy report has already been conducted, and it says that he was killed this morning at around nine. Prosecutor Shadow was still in police custody at the time. I happened to be talking to Senior Detective Silver in the Precinct cafeteria about the possibility of this case being brought up today before coming here.

"But if that's not enough proof to convince you, then the results of the handwriting analysis on the note should be the icing on the cake. They had just finished before we were to reconvene and said that the writing did not match either of our hands. However, I had requested a picture of the note for reference's sake and noticed that it was in the same hand as the person who authored the Letter in our evidence list. I believe it's clear that the man who was the fourth witness in this case and the orchestrator of the murder involving Ms. Lois Pryce has chosen to take matters in his own hands and murder Mr. Sleuth."

"So that's you two's alibi in regards to Mr. Sleuth's death," His Honor murmured in a thoughtful tone. "I must admit that it's quite irrefutable what with you two having provable alibis at the time and the handwriting on the note not matching either of you. Did the man happen to leave any clues about his attacker? Anything that could help provide us with an answer as to why he was murdered?"

"We only have speculations at this time based on the reason why he was placed under protective custody, but the investigation is still ongoing. They have yet to find anything of a conclusive nature."

"Hmm, this poses a problem rather unusual to the courts. With the two witnesses the defense wants to summon either dead or unavailable, I find it hard to see how the defense plans to continue on with this trial. It's because of this I feel that we are not going to unearth any more new information regarding this case at this time. I am not at liberty to have this court wait at the hands of a witness held back by his employer, especially when this case already seems like it has struck a dead end."

"O-Objection, Your Honor!" Tails exclaimed in desperation as he tried to keep things from completely falling apart. "We still have questions that need to be answered. You can't just call off the trial with the way things stand now, especially when today's the last day to deliberate on this case. It would be premature of you to do so!"

"Premature or not, I'm afraid I have little choice in the matter. The judges before me who have presided over this case felt it necessary to order this into cold storage for a reason. I only reopened it under the guise that you found a new connection from our previous murder case, but I see now that it has led nowhere. So long as we have no new evidence or witnesses to look over, it is redundant to continue on. However, I am curious as to how Mr. Eres's current employer believes that he has the authority to instruct his employees to ignore a court summons," His Honor added as an afterthought.

"As I stated before the recess, I happen to know the witness on a personal level," Vector explained as he seemed to recover from his hesitant state. "As such, I know of the reasons why his employer feels he can refuse his employees from answering a court summons. If you would like, I can indulge you on those details once this trial is over.

"However, I must object to Your Honor's thoughts in that this trial should now be put to an end," he continued on in a stoic manner before listening to his music through one ear. Sonic and Tails immediately turned their attention towards him upon hearing this statement. "We still have the ability to continue on with the proceedings."

"And how do propose this to be possible, Prosecutor Vector? The defense proclaimed just now that Mr. Eres was the last person who could possibly identify the mysterious fourth witness. And whatever reason they had for wanting to summon Mr. Sleuth is now irrelevant due to his untimely death."

"Don't forget that the defense isn't the only person in court who has the ability to call upon a witness. I as a prosecutor also reserve that right."

"Are you saying you have someone in mind that can shed more light to this case?" Tails asked, his voice failing to hide his amazement at how Vector was managing to find a way to keep the trial from stopping.

"But of course. However, the witness I have in mind doesn't know any more about our elusive witness than we do. In fact, he's the person who testified to us first that this fourth person initially had nothing to do with this case.

"I'm not sure if anybody noticed, but Senior Detective Silver has yet to tell us everything he knows about the case before the defense got all excited about the new information concerning the anonymous fourth witness. Until us as the judge and attorneys presiding over this trial have heard the entire explanation of the case through the detective's eyes, I believe it to be premature to call and end to it."

"… … …I suppose the prosecution does raise a perfectly valid argument about this," the Judge begrudgingly agreed after a moment of deliberation. He then said after a few more seconds of deliberation and a bang of his gavel, "Very well; I'll allow Detective Silver to take the stand once more! However, I will make it clear to you all that I will not be condoning any acts of stalling or other time-consuming shenanigans during the testimony. I do not want this trial to be dragged on without proven reason."

"And I as the prosecutor will make sure that that the defense doesn't needlessly waste our time. Now that we're all in agreement as to what's happening, I ask that Senior Detective Silver Hedgehog to take the stand once more!"

"I-I can't believe it!" Sonic exclaimed in a whisper as he stared at Vector in shock. The crocodile simply stared back calmly with only a minute nod of his head. "Vector actually found a way to keep the trial going. Not like I doubted him before, but I guess this proves he really is helping us with this case."

"But he's clearly just stalling for time," the two tailed fox replied as he sneaked a glance at the Judge looking somewhat annoyed at how things were going. "He's probably trying to buy Salemand more time to make it here. Oh, of all the times for his boss to come by and have a conversation with him. I don't think the Judge is going to entertain anything else after Silver unless it's Salemand himself."

"Then we're going to have to do our part and stretch out our time with Silver as much as possible!" the cobalt hedgehog stated as Silver took the stand. "Vector's already gotten us this far, so it's only fair we put in our share of the work. Let's just hope that stupid black cat can make it before we're through."

"We're sorry to make you take the stand once more, Senior Detective Silver," His Honor apologized. "However, we would like to hear more information from you regarding this case. Do you mind telling the court the details that you couldn't tell us before the revelation of our fourth witness's suspicions in this?"

"Um, could I please have a moment, Your Honor?" Silver requested hesitantly, giving Sonic and Tails the feeling of wanting to commit a face fault. Even Vector seemed somewhat taken aback at how the detective was seemingly having a hard time trying to improvise without being too obvious about it. He then added in a barely believable tone, "I…lost my track of thought during the break."

"I thought he knew what he was supposed to say next!" the defense attorney hissed out in surprise as he looked towards the crocodile for an answer. All he received was a concerned gaze. "Don't tell me he's also trying to improvise on the spot. God, this isn't going to end well if we keep up like this!"

"Well, I don't think I ever talked about…how the victims died in detail!" the detective managed to come up as he kept his face as stoic as possible. "I know that we already have their autopsy reports, but they only say so much in relations to their deaths. I was planning on elaborating more on the subject before we became engrossed with our anonymous fourth witness being a person of interest."

"I don't see how this is of any importance, but I suppose it wise to hear more in regards to the victims," the Judge finally agreed but not before letting out an agitated breath. "You may go ahead and testify to the court about this."

"Thank you, Your Honor."

"Get ready, Sonic," Tails whispered out in a sigh as he rubbed at his left temple. "Make sure you're ready for whatever's going to happen. I have a feeling that this is going to be one wild ride."

"And I doubt we're going to get out of this one smelling like roses. Let's just try to keep the damage to a minimum and stay alive. And here's to hoping that Vector hasn't accidentally led us to a complete dead-end. I don't think that I'll be able to explain to the Judge why I'm having a hard time with the cross-examination."

_**Death of the Victims**_

As I explained earlier, Detective Charles was found outside the lighthouse bludgeoned to death after sustaining non-lethal injuries. Maria Robotnik was found inside shot in the head. And just as Charles's Autopsy Report explained, his murder weapon was never recovered. But as luck would have it, we found the Pistol that killed Ms. Robotnik. And while not recorded on the autopsy reports, she was the first of the two to have died. From these details, it has been widely acknowledged that Detective Charles fought with somebody outside the lighthouse. At the same time, Maria ran inside in search of the four kidnap victims.

_**End Testimony**_

"Hmm, this testimony sounds a lot like a recap of what you told us at the start of this trial," the Judge surmised with an unsure look on his face. "Are you sure this is all you can add, Senior Detective Silver?"

"Unfortunately, that's all I can say on the matter," Silver answered as he tried to keep a professional posture despite his fingers fidgeting a bit. "I'm sorry that it sounds like a repeat, but I had felt it necessary to remind us about what might've been forgotten. However, I did add in a couple new details that were not present in my previous testimony. I hope that it ends up being of some help to you."

"Still, I'm not pleased with the information you have presented to us," His Honor said, his voice clearly reflecting his displeasure at how the trial was being dragged on for no good reason. "Prosecutor Vector, I fail to see how this really provides us with anything new that we haven't heard."

"Well, I believe that any confusion will be cleared up when as the defense goes along with their cross-examination," Vector smoothly replied as he threw the ball into Sonic's court. If he was feeling worried at how badly constructed the testimony was, then he was doing a pretty good job hiding it. "Some new information can only be unearthed when picked at, and I believe that it's the defense's right and obligation to do just that."

"But the detective is the witness that you chose to have testify to us," His Honor stated in dissatisfaction to the crocodile's explanation. Apparently, he caught on to the prosecutor's attempt at trying to give Sonic the chance to dig up information but managed to make it sound like he was merely disagreeing with the old man. "I find it hard to believe that you did not know that the detective did not have any new information to impart to us. In fact, I'm partial to believing that you're merely trying to waste the court's time with frivolous testimony. I've a mind to call an end to this trial here and now because of this."

"Objection!" Tails exclaimed in an attempt to defend Vector's decision on having Silver testify again. "Your Honor, you are a facilitator of the law. You're right now planning on acting on an assumption that you've just made. However, you run under the same guidelines as the defense and prosecution in that you need evidence to prove your speculations to be true. Do you know for sure that Prosecutor Vector did in fact not know that Senior Detective Silver did not have any potentially new information for the case?"

"…I must admit that I have no such evidence that shows my supposition to be a possible truth. However, let me say for the record that I never once said that was actually going to end the trial immediately. I was only stating my opinion in the matter, an opinion that I'll hold onto until I can be proven wrong."

"Then allow me to help rid your mind of these doubts by revealing the new information that's hidden within this cross-examination!" Sonic said as he caught a thankful glance from the crocodile for having helped defend his character. "I'll prove to you and the rest of the court how important this testimony is."

"You know that talk doesn't amount to anything here, right?" the crocodile asked in a stern tone, although his eyes gleamed with appreciation at being defended from the judge's wrath. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and start conducting your cross-examination? If you really want to prove the Judge wrong in his feelings, then you better start sooner rather than later."

_And that's what I intend to do,_ the cobalt hedgehog thought as he gave an agreeing and thankful nod to the prosecutor. _I'm going to get to the bottom of this case if it's the last thing I do! Here's to hoping I can pull it off._

"Very well; the defense may begin with their cross-examination," the Judge replied as he banged his gavel. "Just keep in mind what I said earlier. If there are any hints of stalling or any other kinds of time-wasting shenanigans, then I'll put an immediate end to this trial. I hope this is understood by both sides?"

Both sides wordlessly nodded their heads as they prepared to try and stall for some much needed time until Salemand arrived at the courtroom.

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Detective Silver, both you and Charles' Autopsy Report say that he was killed due to a strike to the head," Sonic started as he tried to pose a suitable opening question in order to avoid the Judge's wrath. "It's also made known that the murder weapon could not be found within the vicinity. However, were there any statements made by the coroner stating what kind of weapon it was that killed him?"

"What are you getting at, Mr. Sonic?" the Judge asked, his tone sounding like it was dead set on this question being just a waste of time. "I hope for your sake that this question has some relations to the detective's testimony."

"Well, I doubt that the police then would've gone about searching for anything that could be used as a weapon," the cobalt hedgehog hastily explained as he tried not to look or sound flustered in the process. "It would've been like looking for a needle in a haystack; a complete waste of their time. They must've had something as an indicator for what the weapon might've looked like."

"Well, they did make a report saying that the shape of the wound on Detective Charles's head reflected that of some kind of cylindrical object," Silver explained without any hesitation. "Naturally, the cops at the time searched every part of the lighthouse for anything that fit the description, but they uncovered nothing. There wasn't even a single trace of blood to be found apart from where Ms. Robotnik was found murdered. It's clear from this that the weapon disappeared without a trace."

"I see. Then perhaps the weapon is simply lying out in the open clean of any suspect material and posing as a normal item. Is there any way that the murderer simply got rid of all traces of blood from the weapon?"

Right after making this statement, the entire courtroom brought their eyes to the defense attorney. They looked at him like he was crazy, and he was becoming quite uncomfortable at so suddenly be put under the spotlight. Even Tails could not resist committing a face palm in reaction to the dumb question. It was like he had just asked something so completely stupid that everybody already knew the answer to.

"…It's impossible for traces blood to just disappear barring some kind of miraculous feat," the detective responded calmly despite still looking at Sonic with a what-the-heck glance. "You can effectively clean up any bloodstains with bleach and destroy its DNA composition, but you can't hide it from a simple Luminol test. Luminol can detect the most heavily bleached bloodstain. I'm confident that the police sprayed that building from top to bottom two times over before giving up their search. They even went and dragged the river for the heck of it but couldn't find anything since the current was terribly strong."

"Okay, then what about the bruises on his body? It's clearly shows that he was in a fight of some kind. Could the coroners tell from the amount of bruises how many people he was in a fight with before dying?"

"They suspect he was fighting with only one person since they didn't see an excessive amount of bruises on him. However, they were seen on vital areas that most likely rendered him incapable of fighting back. That's probably when the murderer took the opportunity to strike him on the head."

"Can we please move onto another question, Mr. Sonic?" Vector suggested with an annoyed bite in his words as he began fiddling with his gold chain. "Obsessing on information for one person isn't exactly the most productive way of questioning. That and your questions are starting to lack in meaning."

"Then how about we learn more about Maria Robotnik's death?" Tails quickly suggested before the Judge could get a word in. To be honest, he was uncomfortable wanting to hear what the old man wanted to say in fear that he might shut them down and would rather keep him quiet as long as possible. "I'm sure the court would like to hear more information about that. To start off, was there any chance that she could've survived being shot for even a second? I've heard of instances where people still live for a bit after such a critical injury."

"Unfortunately, no," Silver replied just as quickly, ignoring the sour look the Judge gave at not being able to say anything. "She wasn't one of those lucky few seeing how the bullet blew through most of her brain. Why did you ask about that?"

"Well, I was just wondering if she could've had a chance to leave us a message of some kind," the two tailed fox said with a shrug of his shoulders. He was not going to admit that it was actually the first question he could come up with at that moment. "It certainly would make it easier on us if she did."

"I think that either Vector or I would've seen it mentioned somewhere in the case files were that to have been the case. In other words, there was nothing of the sort found on or near her person."

"And no, there were no messages written in blood and wiped away later," the crocodile quickly added before the fox could open his mouth. "The Luminol would've been able to pick up something like that. But like the detective said, Ms. Robotnik died instantaneously. Any semblance of a message from her would immediately be construed as fake no matter how convincing it looked."

"Uh, then how about be move on to the bullet?" Sonic slowly asked as if he were having a hard time trying to form the question. Truth be told, he was struggling trying to keep the Judge appeased with important-sounding questions. "I don't think we've heard anything about it yet. Did the police end up finding it? I'm sure that's probably one of the first things they went searching the scene for."

"I believe I have what you're asking for right here," the crocodile quickly announced as he held up an evidence bag that had a rust brown bullet in it. Written on the baggie was the case file designation code, LK-9. "This is the Bullet found lodged in the wall just a couple of feet from where Ms. Robotnik was found. Thankfully, it retained its shape despite having struck both bone and a brick wall."

"The court accepts this as evidence," the Judge announced as he finally seemed intrigued upon seeing new information being presented. "So this is the bullet that took the good lady's life. I would suspect that tests have been conducted connecting this bullet to the Pistol currently in our possession."

"I can vouch for that," Silver said with a nod of his head. "I've seen it stated quite a few times in the files regarding this case that the ballistic markings matched the Pistol. The blood was also an exact match with the victim."

"So we now have the Bullet that was shot from the Pistol and killed Maria," the cobalt hedgehog murmured as he felt that he now had a bit more leeway what with the Judge's slightly better attitude. "If you don't mind me asking detective, how exactly did the detectives conclude that Maria was the one to die first? I don't believe any of the witnesses questioned were able to provide any information regarding this."

"Again, it was the expert opinion of the coroners that allowed the investigators to come to this conclusion," the witness simply responded. "Despite having been struck in the head, the attack did not immediately kill Detective Charles. It merely knocked him into an unconscious state that he never woke up from. Also, the place where Ms. Robotnik's body was found also lends credence to this."

"What does the fact of where her body was discovered have to do with determining who died first?" Tails asked with a questioning eyebrow raised. "I don't see how that can be used in terms of determining the order of the deaths."

"That would normally be the case, but investigators were able to use the placement of her body in the lighthouse to make their conclusion."

"Detective, do you mind explaining to the court about this?" Vector asked, his fists repeatedly tightening and relaxing as if he were stressed.

"Yes, even I'm curious as to how the body placement could indicate who was the one to die first," the Judge admitted as he clearly allowed the crocodile's request for Silver to provide further explanation.

"I'll be happy to," the detective said with a nod of his head. "I admit I was confused myself when I first read about this."

_**New Statement**_

Ms. Robotnik's body was discovered in front of a bookshelf that was situated on the other side of the foyer.

_**End New Statement**_

"Detective Silver, I'm afraid that we're still have a hard time understanding how this has anything to do with showing whether or not she died first," Tails admitted as he looked even more confused by this new statement. "Could you describe to us what techniques the police used to come to this conclusion?"

"Well, investigators had dusted the floor for shoeprints," Silver explained as he scratched his head in thought. "They found prints that matched Ms. Robotnik's shoes and tracked them going from the door to the office area before stopping where she was killed."

"So they were able to retrace her steps from the moment she entered the lighthouse," Sonic surmised as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "But I don't remember there ever being an office area when I investigated the lighthouse with you. Is it because in the five years since the incident that the interior has been changed so much?"

"That would make the most sense since the building did transform into an actual home after the Prycey Seafood business went defunct," the detective explained with a nod of his head. "However, we do still have a Diagram made at the time that documents how the interior was set up at the time of the crime. I have the Diagram here for you to see."

For the next couple of seconds, Silver took a piece of paper out from his coat pocket and placed it on the projector on the prosecution's table. A picture then appeared on a blank wall showing a Diagram of the lighthouse as it was from five years ago. Both the rooms and pieces of furniture were clearly indicated.

"As you will see in just a moment, the office is located towards the right once you enter the lighthouse," Vector began to explain as he took out a red sharpie. "When we follow Maria's footsteps, we can see that she immediately headed towards the bookshelf on the other side of the foyer when she came in. There are points near the shelf where her shoeprints overlap one another. This indicates that she spent some time probably searching for something. After that, she went over to where the office was and seemed content to search the desk for something, again indicated by the overlapping footprints. They then lead back to the bookshelf where she was later found shot at point blank range from behind."

"So when she went into the lighthouse to look for me, Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow; she first went to the bookshelf," the two tailed fox concluded as he traced the red sharpie's path with his eyes. "She then headed towards the office for some unknown reason and spent some time around the desk. After that, she went back to the shelf where she was killed soon after. But if she were trying to look for me and my friends, why would she willingly waste time in obviously unrelated spots? That seems like a waste of time."

"I found it strange myself when I first started looking through this case," the crocodile admitted as he began strumming his fingers to the tune on his headset. "Why would someone who has taken it upon themselves to look for four kidnap victims waste time meandering in clearly unrelated areas? She's already placed herself in a rather precarious situation; I doubt she wanted to stay there any longer than needed. I also doubt that she just spontaneously decided to search for something with the urgency and danger level so high.

"However, questioning ourselves about her actions isn't going to get us anywhere," he continued on as his voice changed to an objective tone. "We're merely dwelling on things that we can't possibly answer. Unless you Mr. Sonic or your assistant can provide the court an explanation as to why she would willingly waste time like this, I suggest that you both drop this line of thought."

"Uh, then perhaps we should ask Detective Silver what he thinks on this matter," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he seemed somewhat perturbed about Maria's actions before dying. "Detective, do you have any professional opinions on why Ms. Robotnik was moving around so strangely? Is there any kind of case knowledge that has yet to be mentioned that might explain all this?"

Instead of immediately providing an answer, Silver was silent for a while as a thoughtful look was plastered to his face. He was technically the only person in the courtroom who could provide an expert opinion, but even he knew that this was just a stall tactic. As such, he was trying to formulate an answer that sounded professional.

"…The only thing I can think of is that she was looking for something in the two places she stopped at," Silver explained with a shake of his head after thinking for a couple seconds. "I can't say for certain exactly what she was looking for, and I'm sure that the detectives at the time couldn't come up with any reasonable answer for this. If that were the case, then I'm sure we wouldn't be debating of this now."

"Then what was the reason for her to move around so strangely in clear enemy territory?" the cobalt hedgehog murmured under his breath as he scrutinized the Diagram and the red markings on it. It was almost like there was something about the evidence that was bothering him. "Maria was like an older sister to Shadow; she would do anything within her power to help him and his friends out. Pair that up with the fact that my Uncle Chuck was also there and they were both clearly set on a rescue mission. Why then waste time when she was already inside the building? It doesn't make any sense!"

"Anyway, we've strayed pretty far from our original reason on pursuing this question," Vector quickly announced as he broke the courtroom silence. "We only asked about where she was killed in order to figure out how detectives five years ago determined which of the two victims died first. Seeing as how Ms. Robotnik spent her time in the lighthouse at two locations, it's doubtful she was inside for long before being shot. When combined with the fact that Detective Charles most likely lived for a few minutes even after being struck in the head, she's most likely the one to have died first. I believe this adequately answers the question that the defense posed to us."

"I'd even go so far as to say that every question raised by this cross-examination has been answered to the satisfaction of the court," the Judge added as he seemed content with the results of the testimony. "I believe that the defense has asked everything that they can regarding this testimony. Despite all this deliberation, what has been spoken of apart from the fourth witness has already been discussed by earlier detectives. As such, I request that the defense bring their cross-examination to a close."

"I-I object, Your Honor!" Tails stammered out right after hearing the Judge's sudden announcement. "The defense still has questions that we would like to ask! There are certain details that have yet to be cleared up."

"I'm afraid that I must agree with the defense on this," the crocodile responded as he tried to back the fox up. "I feel that there is still room for debate regarding certain details in this case. Also, there are still some key questions revolving around the interests of the fourth witness that has yet to be resolved."

"But you admitted yourself Prosecutor Vector that the detective here doesn't have any new information regarding this person," His Honor simply replied. The prosecutor began to nervously fiddle with his gold chain. "I also feel that whatever details that have yet to be cleared are simply for the benefit of your curiosity.

"However, if the defense can convince me that they learned something completely new that had yet to be uncovered from the start of the investigation five years ago, I'll be more than happy to hear it," he added before concentrating his attention on Sonic and Tails. "Is this what you were getting at when you objected earlier?"

Instead of answering, the two tailed fox bit his tongue and thought hard about what they heard from Silver's testimony. Unless he could discover something that the detectives from five years ago somehow missed, this trial was as good as dead. Even Vector could not help them out with this problem.

"Wh-What are we going to do, Sonic?" he whispered to his brother who happened to still be staring at the Diagram as if it were about to come to life. "Salemand still hasn't made it here yet. We need to buy him more time, but the Judge isn't going to allow us to continue on with the cross-examination. How are we going to buy more time?"

"… …By raising a contradiction regarding on how things were in the lighthouse between then and now!" the hedgehog simply replied as realization dawned on him. Tails was confused by what he meant but chose to keep quiet when he saw a serious smile approach Sonic's face. "Just watch what I do and back me up when I need it."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Your Honor, I would like to introduce to the court a contradiction that has just been brought to my attention!" Sonic suddenly announced with such enthusiasm that everybody in the courtroom, including the Judge, actually flinched. "I believe that this will have you further reconsidering your thoughts on this case being frivolous."

"There's no need to project such forcefulness, Mr. Sonic!" the Judge responded, his gaze stern upon hearing a sudden exclamation. "It's almost like you're going to announce an attack on us. In a calmer tone this time around, just what exactly is this contradiction that has gotten you so excited?"

"I've been studying this Diagram for some time now," the hedgehog explained as he lowered the level of his enthusiasm but held to his excitement. "Ever since Ms. Robotnik's movements inside the lighthouse had been determined, something had been bothering me. I couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but it felt like I was seeing something different. I've only just realized just what difference was."

"Mind sharing with the rest of us what this revelation is?" Vector asked as he panned over to the Diagram once more. "I'm afraid I can't see any contradiction whatsoever with how I retraced Maria's movements."

"That's because I'm not saying there was anything wrong with your markings. Then again, I'm hardly considered able to object to something like that since I've no direct details. What I'm talking about is the placement of the furniture!"

"The furniture?" Silver repeated with an eyebrow raised in confusion. "How can the furniture provide you with a contradiction? Except for this Diagram, I doubt that you have any kind of knowledge of how things were placed at the time."

"Oh, I'm not trying to object to how things were placed then. Rather, I want to point out something strange in the lighthouse foyer. But first, I would like to ask you something detective. Has that building ever undergone a renovation in the past five years?"

"No," the witness answered. "The only thing that has changed most likely is the interior decorating seeing how it's been transformed into a house."

"Can you please get on with the reason why you say there's a contradiction?" the crocodile asked in annoyance.

"I'm sure you're not aware of this prosecutor since you never once set foot inside the lighthouse. I would like to draw the court's attention to the bookshelf where Ms. Robotnik was found dead. My assistant and I have been in that lighthouse a couple of days ago. If that building is the same as it was five years ago, then there's something missing in this particular Diagram! Namely, the door to the basement is non-existent! There's no mention of it anywhere on these floor plans!"

"…Oh my god; you're right!" the senior detective exclaimed as he looked over the Diagram once more. "I've seen this Diagram so many times; I never even noticed it when I investigated the lighthouse for the first time. I just saw it as another room that I could search for evidence."

"W-Wait a minute!" the crocodile quickly butted in, clearly confused yet concerned at the same time at what was happening. "All you're saying is that a bookcase in the past just happened to be where the basement door should be in present time. Apart from the transition to business to house, that's the only thing about that wall that's changed. I hardly see how this is of any great importance, Mr. Sonic."

"Prosecutor Vector, what does the official report say in terms of what my friends and I said we were being held?" Sonic simply asked instead of explaining the prosecutor's concern. "Being that you've been studying up on the case with Senior Detective Silver, I'm sure you've been able to access statements thought to have been useless in terms of the investigation. I believe our Statements regarding where in the lighthouse we were imprisoned should be there, as well."

"Uh, I have you guys' Statements from them right here with me," the prosecutor replied as he shuffled through his papers. "And since the defense brought it up, I'll just go ahead and submit it as evidence. Now let me go ahead and read it since I have a feeling they're going to request me to do so.

"_My friends and I were blindfolded when we were brought to the lighthouse,_" Vector read. "_After they forced us inside, we went down some stairs before they had us stop. They then took off our blindfolds. However, the room was completely dark with no windows, so we might as well have been kept blindfolded. The only light came from the open door which was quickly closed and left us in total darkness._"

"For the record, it doesn't matter who was speaking in that Statement," the cobalt hedgehog explained. "The four of us ended up giving the same testimony that had no difference between them."

"Hold on a second!" the crocodile suddenly exclaimed, realization hitting him as he did a double-take with the Statement. "You're saying that there were a set of stairs that led downward into a windowless room. However, the official report says that the detectives never found a room that matched the description! That's why this Statement was considered useless then. And to top it off, you all were ultimately found on the second floor where the lighthouse maintenance equipment were being kept. Are you saying you have evidence that this room does exist and thus prove you were held there at some point?"

"I think you should ask the detective yourself. After all, he was the only one to have entered said room when he accompanied us for the investigation of the lighthouse for my previous case."

"Mr. Sonic's telling the truth here," Silver confirmed with a nod of his head. "That lighthouse does have a basement area to it. There aren't any windows, but there's a ceiling lamp that lights up the room. Without it, the description of where the defense and his friends were held matches exactly."

"And that's where we have our problem!" Tails stated as he caught up with his brother's track of thought. "We've just proven that our Statements from five years ago were the truth. So how was it that the detectives then failed to notice the room? Our answer lies with the bookcase that's positioned in the same place as the basement door. It's the defense's belief that the shelf was, in fact, the door to the basement then. It's the only explanation that makes sense considering the facts before us. And since it was quite an unsuspicious object, I'm sure the detectives didn't give it a second glance apart from investigating it for any connections to Ms. Robotnik's murder.

"Of course, we don't have any proof of this being the case," the two tailed fox admitted. "However, I'm sure that even you, Your Honor, would have to agree that this is the most likely truth of things. And if you think about it even further, it would explain why Ms. Robotnik had chosen to spend most of her time in that area. She knew the bookshelf was the basement door and was trying to open it and free us."

"Objection!" Vector suddenly objected. "I find it hard to believe that she would've had any kind of knowledge about this bookshelf door. Reports have indicated that neither she nor Charles set foot in that building until that very moment. How could she have possibly known about that particular trick? If I were in her position, I would've checked every room on the first floor before making my way upstairs. The only thing that can answer this contradiction is that Ms. Robotnik was one of the people to have planned the kidnapping!"

"Now just hold on there!" Sonic quickly exclaimed as he now found himself trying to defend Maria's good name from the crocodile's reasonably sound claim. "As far as I know, there hasn't been any evidence that portrays the woman as having played some part in our kidnapping. She was simply an innocent woman trying to rescue us."

"While it may be true that I have no evidence suggesting such a thing, it also goes to say that you have nothing proving her innocence. However, I believe that her actions from first entering the lighthouse is proof enough. Instead of searching the entire first floor frantically, she simply made a beeline for the bookshelf. This itself proves that she knew about the trick beforehand. All she had to do to make herself look innocent was to open the door and 'rescue' the four of you. After all, she already knew how to open the door and most likely had the means to open it on her."

"Hmm, the prosecution does have a point here," the Judge admitted with a nod of his head. "It's appearing that Ms. Robotnik did play some part in this tragedy."

"But I have evidence that says otherwise, Your Honor!" the cobalt hedgehog objected. "Prosecutor Vector has just said that Ms. Robotnik 'had the means' to open the bookshelf door. Would I be right in assuming you mean that she already knew whatever trick was involved to opening it and would then have no reason to head anywhere but that shelf?"

"Are you saying that you have something that disproves my claim?" the crocodile asked with an eyebrow raised in question.

"I believe you'll have you answer if you look at the Diagram once more. By your own hand, you mapped out for us the movement that Ms. Robotnik made when she entered the lighthouse. As you said earlier, she did indeed make a beeline for the bookshelf without bothering checking the other rooms.

"However, that's where a contradiction with your explanation comes to light. If she really did know how to open the bookshelf door, why would she then make her way to the office for no particular reason? If she really were a part of the kidnapping plot and wanted to look innocent, I doubt she would bother wasting her time heading to an unrelated room. And let's not forget that she made her way back to the shelf after meandering around the desk area. It is my belief that she did know the trick to the shelf but did not have the means to open it. She most likely headed towards the office where she ultimately found something and then made her way back a second time. Why would she not have the necessary key if she were in fact a part of the kidnapping plot? It doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it!"

"Gah, you got me good there!" Vector admitted as he tugged down at his gold chain in frustration. "It's true that her own movements seem to indicate she did not have the means to open the bookshelf door. It does lend credence to the thought that she was not a part of the kidnapping group. However, this still leaves us with one other question."

"And what is that, Prosecutor Vector?" His Honor asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Exactly how Ms. Robotnik knew about the bookshelf trick beforehand," the prosecutor explained. "Her movement also proves she knew about it. If she isn't indeed a part of the whole kidnapping scheme, then how did she know about it? Unless we can answer this question, we can't be sure whether she is innocent or just became an unintended casualty of her cohorts' actions. And because of this, we don't know whether or not we have to question the people connected to her. If that's the case, then we can't possibly continue on with the trial seeing as how this process can't possibly be completed by today."

"Wh-What?_!_" both Sonic and Tails exclaimed as they glared daggers at Vector while the gallery began talking excited amongst themselves. Even Silver sent him a disconcerting look. All the crocodile did was sent them both a barely noticeable apologetic look. Despite promising before the trial started to try and not derail one another, it seemed that he unintentionally made it happen by mentioning the thought of questioning the people that Maria knew.

"Order!" the Judge exclaimed as he banged at his gavel. "I will have order! Prosecutor Vector, are you suggesting that we have no other course of action besides questioning the people Ms. Robotnik knew? If so, then I can't possibly see how this trial can continue seeing as how the process requires more than just a couple hours."

"Um… I… Well, that is to say…!" the crocodile stuttered as he tried to come up with a way to rectify his case-stopping mistake. "I… I…suppose that's what I'm suggesting. I mean…, there isn't really much else we can do given the circumstances."

"Objection!" Tails exclaimed as he was the first to recover from the shock. "Prosecutor Vector, you have yet to provide us any evidence that shows this plan to be necessary. There's no need to be ending this trial over this!"

"Overruled," His Honor quickly countered with a shake of his head. "I find this to be quite a fascinating line of thought. So long as the possibility of Ms. Robotnik being one of the kidnappers is true; I can't discount the need to question the people connected to her. However, I've already said that this process takes more than just a couple of hours to perform. As such, it's my belief that this trial can no longer be conducted with the information already in our possession."

"Th-That can't be…!" Sonic whispered as he kept his teeth clenched in worry. "There has to be something else we can do! We can't just let all our hard work end here. We've already gotten further than any of the people who looked over this case could! We can't just let it end like this!"

"Senior Detective Silver, I thank you for providing us with your testimony," the Judge thanked. "You may now leave the stand."

In an almost begrudging manner, Silver left the stand after sending Sonic and Tails an apologetic look and Vector an annoyed glance.

"Now then, I would like to call an end to this trial. While we have indeed gotten further than anybody ever could in this case, I believe it's time to put it to rest. We have run out of any immediate information that we can listen to without a moment's notice. All we have left is something that requires much more time than we have. Before I end this, though, does either the defense or prosecution have any closing remarks?"

Both Sonic and Tails could not muster the energy to make another objection to the current situation. And even if they could, they felt that the Judge would not accept it barring a surprisingly good reason or introduction to more new information. Vector was still reeling from the mistake he made; he could not come up with a single thing to say. He knew it was his fault they were now in this irreversible position but could do nothing about it.

"…It seems as though neither side has anything else to say," the Judge replied as he shook his head at the silence. "If that's the case, then I would like to call an end to this trial. While very informative, we never learned about who the true culprit in this case was. We never learned of the fourth mysterious witness who seems to have some connection to both the previous case and this; but I feel it will soon come to light when an unofficial investigation is conducted once this is closed after today. Until then, it's time to end this official trial."

"Objection, Your Honor!" a voice suddenly exclaimed just before the Judge banged his gavel and officiated his ruling. "You still have access to information that has yet to be fully reviewed."

"Wh-Who said that?_!_" His Honor asked as he along with the defense and prosecution looked around the courtroom.

"Look down at the witness stand," the person simply explained as everybody's attention was directed there. Standing on the stand was an ebon black cat with eyes as red as blood rubies.

"I-Is that…?_!_" Sonic breathed out in disbelief, his eyes not believing who was standing in front of him. Even Tails was too shocked to say anything. But nothing could beat the sight of Vector's eyes bugging out in complete surprise.

"Salemand Eres here at your service!" the black cat introduced himself while flashing a big smile. "I believe you made a request for my help earlier."

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after killing Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago through ballistic testing that it was fired from the Pistol that was used once again on Prosecutor Flora Mae.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as "Prycey Seafood". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office and then back where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, so the statements were thus considered useless and shuffled away.

**New Profiles:**

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness and thus implicates him for the murder.

**Updated Profiles:**

Salemand Eres: A twenty-six-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It has been proven that he was at the scene of the LK-9 murders five years ago and thus has been called to court to testify.

* * *

><p>Well, that's it for this new chapter. I hope you liked how I made it all work. So many times the Judge felt that the case is going nowhere and wants to close it. How many more times can they keep him from stopping the trial under the basis of either no new information or lack of information that can be immediately discussed and proven true or false? What is Salemand going to testify about, and is it going to help our very cornered attorneys? How long can I keep this up before I really bury myself into a very deep hole?<p>

But yeah, I'm seriously backing myself into a corner, and I'm the writer! It's not good when the writer himself gets trapped. But I feel that makes the story all that more interesting in that I'm like you readers and not knowing what the heck is going to happen next except for a few choice details. However, I can say for sure that this trial is going to go on for a very long time. If I think about it, it's probably in the middle of the afternoon for these guys seeing as how they're trying to figure out everything while keeping the information and all correct.

Anyway, I'll let you all go now. Just please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. As I said earlier, they are always very helpful and encouraging and also great when you use it to point out mistakes I accidentally made. And please go and read my other story that I made mention of earlier, "Apocalypse: The Beginning of the End". That is my first serious attempt at writing a zombie story, and whatever feedback you can give me would be very helpful.

Well, that's it from me for this story for today. I'll leave you with the new evidence that was introduced this chapter. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!


	31. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 4

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read after making you wait for like almost a month. I'm real sorry that you had to wait this long. To be perfectly honest, I was dealing with a lot of stress from college, so much so that I actually fell into a thankfully minor depression moment. It lasted for like about a couple of weeks, but it's now past and I'm back to doing what I love most, writing stories for you people to read.

Anyway, I feel like I kind of set myself up for a lot of hardships when I started writing about the LK-9 Incident segment of this story. There's hardly any evidence of concrete nature that points to the real truth of the matter, and things are so scattered that Sonic and the gang are trying so desperately to piece together into the coveted truth. And then there was the last chapter where Vector nearly cost all of them the trial were it not for the sudden yet well timed appearance of Salemand. Boy, can things get any worse for me as the writer? I swear; this mystery might actually get the better of me if the end doesn't come into view soon.

But yeah, that's enough of my uninteresting mumblings. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful whether they are just encouragement or constructive criticism. Until the next update to this or one of my other stories on this site everybody!

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><p><strong>E<strong>vidence:<strong>**

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that this also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some kind of connection to the perpetrators of the LK-9 Incident. While a handwriting analysis is desirable, it's impossible to conduct because of a lack of comparison to a specific individual.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. Just before the trial began, it was discovered that both the paper and digital forms were destroyed. Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place that the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business called "Prycey Seafood". It was owned by three people; two of them were Lois and Maxwell Pryce who owned a lesser percentage of the business. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it closed upon being a spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witness found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 case. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he was in a fight prior to dying. The murder weapon has never been recovered.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at point blank range and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Written Statement: A statement written by the fourth anonymous witness in the LK-9 case. They speak of how they can't be a suspect because of having performed important business elsewhere. The person also hints that they might have some kind of connection at the time with the local Precinct. The handwriting seemingly matches with that on the Letter and hints that this witness might have something to do with the previous case.

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after killing Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago through ballistic testing that it was fired from the Pistol that was used once again on Prosecutor Flora Mae.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as "Prycey Seafood". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office and then back where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, so the statements were thus considered useless and shuffled away.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident despite the clear lack of a defendant. He wishes to obtain more information on the case in its last day of legal life and to try solving it.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now watching the proceedings of the LK-9 trial. He delivered the evidence from the LK-9 Incident to Vector after learning of someone destroying both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-six-year-old ebon black cat who's looking for his missing brother. As revealed by Vector, he is a member of Interpol currently on an assigned mission in Mobius. His real name is unknown to all except Vector. It has been proven that he was at the scene of the LK-9 murders five years ago and thus has been called to court to testify.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He has been cleared of murder and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what new details will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct. For unknown reasons, he has chosen to refuse to preside over the LK-9 trial.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor.

Leukis Kruger: Salemand's twenty-one-year-old younger albino lion brother who has been afflicted with the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome. He is apparently a member of Interpol with his name simply a code name. According to Salemand, he has been missing for a few days. As accidentally revealed by Vector, his real name is actually Leon.

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident.

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness and thus implicates him for the murder.

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><p><strong>Chapter 31: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 4<strong>

"…So you are the elusive witness that the prosecution has been having trouble getting to come and testify," the Judge responded once he recovered from the shock at Salemand's sudden appearance. It had also taken him quite a bit of effort to quell the chaos that was the surprised gallery. "It's nice to see that you finally decided to appear before us albeit it being quite a while since we called for you."

"Well, it's my pleasure to be in the presence of you and this court," Salemand responded with a smile as he fiddled with the edges of his gloves. "I apologize for not having arrived the moment you had summoned for me."

"Then do you mind explaining to the court why it is that you took so long to come here after receiving a request from us to testify?" His Honor asked. "After all, I believe it was over half an hour ago when you were supposed to be here. The court doesn't like to be kept waiting on anybody much less a witness."

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss that particular detail at this time," the black cat coolly replied as he messed with his gloved hands. "However, I'm sure that the prosecutor has already explained to you that I was held up by request of my boss. That should be more than enough to satisfy your inquiry as to my whereabouts. If you intend on wanting a more direct answer to your question, though, then it's best that you direct it to my boss. Until then, I would like to plead the fifth on your question."

"Hmm, I'm not sure I approve of the attitude you're giving us. You have yet to provide us with testimony and you're already keeping secrets from this courtroom. Mind you that this casts quite a suspicious shadow over your character. Prosecutor Vector, do you know the reason why your witness was late?"

"…I'm afraid I can only repeat what I said earlier when the recess was over," Vector simply explained after having recovered from the earlier shock. "Mr. Eres's current line of employment occasionally has him engaged in something that is of more importance than a court summons. As such, I ask that the court exercise some leniency with him. While I do know him on a personal level, I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to divulge the nature of his line of work just yet. However, if his testimony unearths something that deems it necessary for his employment to be brought up, then that is when I'll be allowed to say. Until then, I ask that you allow this witness his moment of secrecy."

"… … …This is definitely the most irregular trial I've ever seen in my career. I'm not sure what to think of all this anymore! …Before I give my answer, I would like to hear what the defense thinks about this."

"Uh, th-the defense agrees with the prosecution on this," Sonic stuttered out before clearing his throat. "The witness must have some reason to not divulge to us the reason for his tardiness. And besides, he has already pleaded the fifth to Your Honor's question. Any attempts on our part to make him answer without any evidence that his plea is without merit would be in violation to Mr. Eres's rights. As such, I ask that you allow this trial to continue with this new witness's testimony!"

"…Very well; I suppose I have little choice in the matter," the Judge conceded as he banged his gavel. "We did call for the witness earlier, so it's our duty to hear what he has to say in regards to the reason we called him here for. Prosecutor Vector, you may begin with your opening statement."

"Thank you, Your Honor," the crocodile thanked as his tense shoulders visibly loosened up considerably. "To start things off, I would like the witness to please state his name and occupation for the court record."

"I'm Salemand Eres, and I withhold my occupation under the conditions of me pleading the fifth," Salemand quickly answered. "However, that is subject to change if and when the court can provide me with an irrefutable reason to disclose it."

"Very well; then let us get on with the question we originally asked you in here to clarify. Let me warn the court, however, that we'll be doing a bit of backtracking. I ask that we keep in mind the questions we left off in regards to Maria Robotnik and temporarily concentrate on Mr. Eres's testimony.

"Anyway, we originally called you in Mr. Eres to testify about what you know in regards to the incident that occurred in the Prycey Seafood company building five years ago," he continued on without any hesitation. "We have documented in the LK-9 Files that you were one of four witnesses to have been in the vicinity at the time the murders took place. However, I would like to first ask about what you were doing at that time."

"So you would basically like to hear my alibi for that moment. Well, that can easily be arranged. Five years might feel like a long time for some, but I assure you that I remember this particular event as if it were only yesterday."

"Alright; then the witness will testify to the court about this matter!" the old man announced as he banged his gavel.

"…Did we really just avoid an end to this trial there?" Tails whispered after having been in silent shock since the black cat made his surprise appearance. "God, Salemand sure knows how to cut it close."

"Stop complaining and pay attention to his testimony!" Sonic quickly shushed his little brother. "This might be our only chance at getting that cat to open up on what he knows about this case. I'm going to figure out just what his job with Interpol has that makes them interested with this if it's the last thing I do!"

_**What I Did During the Murders**_

Five years ago, I was employed by the Prycey Seafood Company as their cargo manager. To be honest, there were only four people employed in the business, including the boss himself. It made for a rather hectic workplace at times. Anyway, I was down at the docks taking care of some seafood that was to be shipped to the other side of the Mobius River. I wasn't aware of any trouble taking place until I heard a gunshot coming from the lighthouse. Naturally, I ran towards the building to see what was happening. When I arrived, the detective was already on the ground bleeding from the head. It was then I used my cell phone to call the police. After that, I waited outside until they arrived.

_**End Testimony**_

"Hmm, so this is what you were doing at the time the murders were taking place," the Judge surmised. "I would suppose that you don't have any witnesses who could confirm that to be the truth."

"Unfortunately, none of the witnesses there were able to collaborate with Mr. Eres's testimony at the time," Vector explained. "In fact, all the witnesses had alibis that could only be proven through their own words. None of them were able to be cross-referenced with each other. As such, I'm afraid that it falls on our shoulders to prove whether or not the witness's testimony is indeed the truth."

"Well, it sounds like something we can't spend wasting the court's time over," the old man said as he hardly spent any time thinking about it. "Mr. Sonic, you may begin with your cross-examination."

"…Is it just me, or does the Judge seem a little too eager to get to the end of this trial?" Sonic whispered to Tails. "I mean, I think this is the first time I've ever seen him wanting me to get right on with the cross-examination. He's not even trying to put in his two cents on the testimony now."

"He probably thinks this isn't worth the time he's been giving it," Tails suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. "To be honest, I can sympathize with him since we've only got this far through suppositions and circumstantial evidence. If it weren't for the fact that we still didn't have things that needed to be thoroughly checked, I'm sure he would've called an end to this trial long ago. But let's worry about that later. Just get on with the cross-examination before the Judge snaps at us for stalling."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Mr. Eres, how long would you say that you were you employed with Prycey Seafood before the incident occurred?" Sonic started off with a simple question.

"Oh, I'd say for no more than six months," Salemand replied with little thought. "Being a cargo manager was a lot easier than it sounded. All I had to do was keep count of the boxes being both shipped in and out as well as make sure everything gets handled properly. It was the easiest job I ever had in my entire life."

"So I suppose you weren't in any way familiar with any of the other workers there," the hedgehog said with a small frown. "And speaking of coworkers, you said earlier that you were one of four people working with the company. Why were there such a low number of employees for the company? I kind of expected that there would be a lot of workers seeing as how this was a seafood business."

"I'm afraid I can't answer that no matter how hard you press me for it," the cat explained with a shrug of his shoulders. "I have no dealings with the employment process. Only the boss would know the answer to that."

"Speaking of bosses, do you think you can tell us the name of your employer?" Tails suddenly asked. "Before you arrived here, the court has had some interest in hearing what the person had to say about this case."

"Sorry, but I'm not going to divulge the court with that information. Unfortunately for you, it runs under the category of my reasoning for pleading the fifth."

"Well, you seem to like keeping secrets from the court," the Judge said with a suspicious eyebrow raised at the witness. "I would assume that having you state the name of your boss would in some way tie in with not wanting to state your occupation?"

"I believe Mr. Eres already answered that question," Vector quickly answered for Salemand. "He said that it ran under the reasoning for him pleading the fifth. I feel that it be unnecessary for him to repeat himself.

"Also, I would like to ask that the defense please stop moving at a snail's pace," he added. "The questions you're asking hold little to no importance towards the reason why we called the witness here in the first place. We asked him about his alibi for the moment of the murders; asking about his employment status as well as the questionable number of employees holds no bearing to the original question."

"I suppose you do have a point there," Sonic admitted with a nod of his head. "In that case, let me move on to another question of relative importance. Mr. Eres, do you remember how long you had spent taking care of the seafood shipment before you heard the murder taking place?"

"Oh, I would say that I spent almost an hour sorting through those seafood shipments," Salemand quickly answered. "If that didn't happen, then I would've been off by midnight that night. I have no idea why the shipment was pushed forward to early next morning, but I knew it meant that I would have to take care of the cargo count that night. Needless to say, I was on an extended night shift in order to accommodate for our client's demands."

"So you're saying that it was around one in the morning when the murders happened?" Tails clarified. "I think this is the first time we heard of any kind of timestamp in regards to the murders in today's trial."

"Indeed, this is a new detail for the courts," the Judge agreed. "Witness, do you mind adding that to your official testimony?"

"If you feel that it'll be to your benefit," the black cat replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

_**New Statement**_

I spent an extra amount of time taking care of the cargo and didn't finish until around one that night.

_**End New Statement**_

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Mr. Eres?" Vector asked with a raised eyebrow. "If that's true, then the case will finally have a more concrete time of death."

"I doubt that'll help you in any way, but I'm very sure in that I was working until one," Salemand clarified as he nodded his head. "I was just about ready to shuffle away the records when I heard a gun going off in the direction of the lighthouse. I had just looked down at my watch seconds before, so I'm positive that it was about that time."

"And that's when you say you ran towards the building," Sonic concluded as he failed to figure out anything new or contradictory with this new statement. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you think the person whose shipment you were preparing just suddenly decided to have his cargo arrive at an earlier time? It seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through that for both parties."

"I can only guess at the person's intentions, but I'm not at liberty to provide a definite answer as to their reasoning," the cat simply replied.

"I object, Your Honor!" the crocodile announced as he fiddled with his headset. "The defense is asking the witness for a statement that can only be seen as hearsay. I request that the court disregards their question."

"Objection sustained," the Judge agreed with a nod of his head. "I suggest that you come up with another question that does not pertain to the witness supplying the court with hearsay, Mr. Sonic."

"Then allow us to phrase the question differently," Tails immediately spoke up. "Mr. Eres, what gave you the impression that night that you had to take care of the cargo count immediately? I don't believe you clearly explained that to us."

"Well, I was about ready to clock out when I decided to check my email via my phone," Salemand explained as he looked thoughtful for the first time. "I tend to keep my list of things to do at work on it. That's when I noticed an email sent from my boss at around eleven-thirty. Needless to say, it said that deployment of the cargo was moved to early next morning. While not directly mentioned, it meant that I had to immediately do the cargo count as per regulations before they left the warehouse. I don't believe I needed anymore confirmation than that to have worked overtime that night."

"I fail to see how this is of any real importance," the crocodile said with an annoyed sigh. "The fact of the matter is that Mr. Eres was working late that night and consequentially became a witness to a double-murder. All you've done so far was to supply the court with a believable reason as to why he was working overtime."

"That may be true, but you never know when information like this could come in handy," Sonic countered while trying to avoid looking sheepish. "But let's move onto something else for the time being. Witness, did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you were making your way to the lighthouse after hearing the shot?"

"Hmm, I can't say that I did. I remember it being a perfectly clear night then, so I had a pretty good view of the entire dock. When I heard the shot, I immediately ran straight towards the lighthouse. Not once did I see anybody coming or going from that direction. And as I already testified, I stood outside the lighthouse entrance until the police arrived about ten minutes later. That means it would've been extremely difficult for the killer to have escaped."

"But if that's the truth, then that would mean the person responsible for the double-murders is one of the four witnesses interviewed that night!" the Judge concluded in mild surprise. "Ms. Robotnik was killed inside the lighthouse. That would mean that one of the workers inside at the time had to have pulled the trigger! I doubt the detectives at the time would've overlooked a detail of such great importance. The fact that they didn't choose to pursue it could only mean that they didn't have the evidence necessary to deem your testimony as the truth of things."

"Believe what you will, but that's exactly what happened from my point of view that night," the black cat coolly said as if what he had said was the undeniable truth. "I ran straight to the lighthouse and was greeted with a rather gruesome scene. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it, although I suppose that's what makes me stronger in the end."

"I'm sorry, but could we ask you to recount that moment for us?" the cobalt hedgehog asked with a slightly apologetic look. "Since you were allegedly the first person on the scene, I think it's important that we hear about what you saw. That is, of course, unless the prosecution has any objections to it."

"Trust me, Mr. Sonic; you would've heard me objecting the moment you suggested the idea if I felt it didn't have any merit," Vector replied with a roll of his eyes. "However, I must admit that I'm also somewhat interested in hearing what Mr. Eres has to say about this. Do you mind answering the defense's question?"

"Well, the scene I saw was typical for any murder scene. A hedgehog who looked to be in his middle ages was on the floor bleeding profusely from his head. He was nonresponsive but still alive. Unfortunately, I couldn't do much for him as I was lacking in first aid experience at the time. However, I could safely deduce that he was struck in the head by some kind of blunt object of sorts."

"Do you mind explaining that in more detail?" the two tailed fox asked as curiosity reflected in his eyes. "I believe this might be very important."

"I agree," the old man added with a nod of his head. "Witness, do you mind changing your testimony again to reflect what you saw at that moment?"

"I'm merely a humble witness in your courtroom. What power do I have to refuse providing you with testimony?"

"_As if that stopped you from pleading the fifth earlier when we asked about what you did for a living,_" the defense attorney thought sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

_**New Statement**_

Apart from the unconscious detective, I noticed what appeared to have been the object that struck him lying a few feet away.

_**End New Statement**_

"Wait a minute; are you sure this is what you saw?" Sonic immediately asked as he was snapped out of his thoughts.

"Every detail I've mentioned about that moment is nothing short of the truth," Salemand responded with a nod of his head. "Believe me when I say that isn't a moment I could so easily forget. I can remember it like it only happened yesterday."

"So you're basically telling us that every detail you've mentioned to us is a known fact from your point of view," Tails basically repeated as he suddenly looked deep in thought about something.

"…What exactly is the defense trying to get at?" Vector asked as he fiddled with his gold chain nervously. "I have a feeling I might regret asking this, but why do you suddenly seem so interested in what Mr. Eres just testified to?"

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Because what he just testified to us is nothing short of impossible!" Sonic exclaimed passionately.

"And what exactly is your reasoning for saying that?" Salemand asked with an eyebrow raised in intrigue. "I've already said that my statement is nothing but the truth."

"Then I guess I'll just have to show you the impossibility of the tale you spun," the cobalt hedgehog replied smugly as he pulled out Charles's Autopsy Report. "If the court would just have another look at this autopsy report, I'm sure you'll all understand what we as the defense are getting at."

"I had a feeling you were going to bring that up when Mr. Eres amended his testimony," Vector admitted as he suddenly seemed uneasy. "You're talking about how he just mentioned seeing something akin to that of a weapon next to Detective Charles's body despite his autopsy report clearly stating that it was never recovered. But then this raises a question. How exactly does this revelation change the perspective of this case? I assume that's the road you're planning to take since you brought up this contradiction."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the first time in all five years of this case's life that anybody has heard about the existence of the weapon that killed Charles Hedgehog? What makes this particular claim even more interesting is that it came from the person who was supposedly the first one to see the crime scene."

"Well, you're right in that there never was any mention of an actual murder weapon until now," the crocodile admitted as he could not help the slight bit of curiosity pass through his words. "But just what exactly are you thinking about with this new revelation?"

"It's pretty suspicious that the only person to have made any claim in the five years this has been going on is the one to have first stumbled upon the scene," Tails simply stated as he started to form the basis of his and Sonic's counterargument. "This fact alone already casts some amount of doubt to Mr. Eres's overall role in this murder no matter how you look at it. After all, how could he possibly have seen the weapon when even the best in the police force couldn't find it? The only answer that I can come up with is that our witness here tampered with the scene and purposefully destroyed evidence in the process!"

"Well, that's a pretty bold claim for you to be making on just a single statement I made," the black cat coolly responded as if the accusation were merely a poke on the arm. "Just for my curiosity, what's stopping you from claiming that I had any involvement in the murder itself? By your way of viewing things, I'd say such an accusation isn't too farfetched."

"Fortunately for you, we've found no evidence stating that such a thing is the truth," the two tailed fox answered. "Nothing you said during the cross-examination leads me to believe that you are actually a murderer. All we know for sure is that nobody has ever seen the weapon except for you. That fact alone combined with the police's inability to find said weapon at all lends credence to the idea that you tampered with the scene!

"And let's not forget what you testified to when you were heading to the lighthouse after the shot. You saw nobody coming or going from the lighthouse the entire time. This suggests to me that you tried to get rid of the evidence so that you could cover up for one of the workers who was responsible for the double-murder. So while you had no role in the murder itself, you took it upon yourself to remove critical evidence before the police arrived!"

"…I must say that I'm surprised you were able to come up with that argument simply through one little controversial statement I made," the witness calmly said as if he were in no trouble. "I now see why the court actually entertains the idea of a young boy such as you to take part in the court proceedings. For you to think fast on your feet and actually come up with such plausible theories is quite astounding."

"Objection!" Vector exclaimed for the first time since the accusation was officially made. "The defense is making a wild claim with hardly any supporting evidence. But let's just ignore that for the time being. Even if they're accusation of Mr. Eres tampering with the scene is true, they failed to take one thing into account. When could he have found the time to hide the murder weapon? By his own testimony, he called the police right after he saw the scene. And I doubt I need to remind you how close the local Precinct is to the lighthouse. They'd have been there the minute after he called!"

"But that's supposing that he made the call immediately after approaching the scene," Sonic quickly countered. "However, the witness has already testified against that being the case. He said that he waited outside for ten minutes after making the call. If it truly takes the officers at the Precinct at the least a minute to arrive, then that leaves at the most a nine-minute gap that's unaccounted for! How do you explain that, Prosecutor Vector?"

"…So you proved that he had the time necessary to get rid of evidence," the crocodile growled in clear refusal to back down. "That still leaves you with the means of how he got rid of it. I don't think I need to tell you how many times the police scavenged that river from beginning to end and still found no signs of the weapon. If he didn't dispose of it in the river, then how did he manage to hide it for all these years?"

"The nine-minute gap is where we'll find our answer to this," the cobalt hedgehog replied. "It's clear that Mr. Eres didn't throw the weapon into the river, so he must've found some other way to dispose of it. And if the police failed to find it through their extensive investigation, then the only possible reason left to us is that he somehow managed to take it away from the scene."

"And how do you propose I did that?" Salemand asked before Vector could raise another objection. "If what you say is true, then I doubt I'd have been able to hide a weapon on my person. The police conducted a search of my body to see if I was hiding anything, after all. And as you just said, the weapon clearly wasn't anywhere near the area. So how do you say I managed to move the weapon away from the scene in the span of nine minutes? And let me say that the police also searched every piece of cargo that was still sitting in the warehouse and still found nothing."

"…If that's the case, then the only answer left is that you had someone help you take the weapon off your hands," the defense attorney announced after some thought. "During the time when you had yet to call the police, you must've made another call to somebody who's not affiliated with the Prycey Seafood business. Unless I'm mistaken, all four people working at the time were in the lighthouse when the police arrived, so it's clear you contacted another party for help with this."

"So now you're saying that I had an accomplice in the tampering business," the black cat actually chuckled in amusement. "My, your claims are getting wilder by the minute. Before you continue, let me remind the court that I had absolutely no reason to want to remove evidence from the scene. After all, I had no outside affiliations with any of the employees apart from a professional standpoint. I could care less whether or not any of them went to jail. And even if I did have a reason, then my accomplice would have to have been somebody I trusted implicitly to not tell the police about what I did. I don't think anybody in their right mind would be able to come up with such a trustworthy person on the spot like that."

"The witness does provide a rather valid point," the Judge admitted after staying silent since the start of the exchange. "Unless the defense can disprove the witness's statements, I fail to see how they can go on with their accusation of tampering with the scene."

"I highly doubt they'll be able to pull something like that out of their bag of tricks," Vector added as he began listening to his music. "They don't have any concrete evidence to discredit any of Mr. Eres's claims."

"If that's what you think, then prepare to be disappointed," Tails stated as he and Sonic exchanged knowing glances. "While we can't prove that the witness had a reason to remove evidence, we can prove that there was someone he trusted with his life to move the evidence somewhere else. Mr. Eres, would I be right in assuming that this is a picture of your little brother?" he asked as he pulled out the Picture of Leukis.

"…And what if he is?" Salemand simply replied as he seemed genuinely confused for the first time.

"Witness, the defense knows that this is indeed your brother," Sonic confirmed for the court. "In fact, I remember you coming to my office three days ago requesting for the services of the Chaotix Detective Agency to figure out where he was. I also remember you telling me last night that you two were in the same business that you refuse to tell the court about and that you're always working together. If that's the case five years ago, then your little brother would've been the only person you trusted to transport the evidence elsewhere while you stayed behind and acted like the first person to discover the murder!"

"…So that's what you were getting at with my brother," the cat said with an amused smile approaching his lips. "I must say, I wasn't expecting that anytime soon. And to think that you came this far all because of a slip of the tongue on my part."

"What are you saying, Mr. Eres?" the old man asked. "Are you actually admitting that you tampered with the scene then?"

"I see no reason to deny it now. The defense has done a good job proving that I took evidence away. I'm just amazed that they got this far with so little to go on."

"So you finally admit it. You're the reason why the police couldn't find the weapon that killed Senior Detective Charles Hedgehog. You and your brother had removed it from the scene and kept it hidden for the past five years. Why would you do something like that?"

"I suppose I have no choice now lest I want to be indicted for destruction of evidence," Salemand replied as he pulled something out of his left glove. "Allow me to formally introduce myself to the court. My real name is Salem, and I am in actuality an Interpol Agent who has been in charge of overseeing a smuggling case for the past five years," he admitted as he showed his official badge to the court.

"So that's why you were adamant on the accusation," Vector said in a tone that Sonic could barely hear over the uproar from the gallery. "You were trying to make him say that he was with Interpol so that you could ask him things as Interpol Agent Salem!"

"There are things that only he as an Interpol Agent can answer. However, I remembered him saying something last night that he wouldn't talk about certain things in court unless we can somehow drag that fact out of him. Now that we all know, I hope you don't mind us asking you for some answers that only agents such as you are privy to?"

"Believe it or not, this was something I was talking to my boss about right after Vector called me in here. I've already gotten his permission to cooperate with your investigation only if you managed to make me admit that I was an Interpol Agent. I never thought, though, that you would try to pin me for tampering with the scene of the crime."

"That still remains to be seen," the Judge stated as he now cast a suspicious look at the witness. "Witness, you will testify to the court about the reason why you felt it necessary to remove key evidence from the murder scene!"

"I promise you that my explanation will more than suit your needs."

_**Reason for Removing Evidence**_

Five years ago, I worked at Prycey Seafood Company as an undercover Interpol Agent. The department had received intel that the business was the headquarters for a smuggling ring. As part of my cover, I was employed as the cargo manager. I was telling the truth when I said I ran straight to the scene after hearing a shot and that nobody came or left as I was approaching. When I arrived, I first noticed the detective and did what little I could to help. That's when I noticed an ornate cane with some blood on it a few feet away. It was clear that it was the weapon used to hit him, but it was also clear to me that it was one of the items listed as part of the smuggling operation. Since my job with Interpol took priority, I contacted my brother and had him take the cane away before calling police.

_**End Testimony**_

"Is this the truth, witness?" the Judge asked with a harsh glare at Salem.

"I see that Your Honor still doesn't fully trust me at this point," the cat replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "That's perfectly understandable seeing as how I dug my own grave in terms of hiding the fact that I altered the crime scene. If it would make you trust me more, I have the weapon in question with me right now by permission of my contact that I left it with all these years."

"You what?_!_" both Sonic and Vector exclaimed when they heard this. Then Vector asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this before the trial, Salem? You've already indulged to me that you were a member of Interpol long before this trial ever started!"

"Sorry, Vector; my contact here in Mobius also happens to be my boss for this branch of Interpol. He told me not to let anybody know of this until my true profession was revealed. That also included you, I'm afraid."

"And who exactly is your boss?" the old man asked. "I think it would do the court good if we heard from him later on."

"Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to be giving out his name. It's his choice whether or not he wants to reveal himself during the course of this trial. I will say this, though; my boss happens to be someone that the defense knows. However, I'm quite sure that they don't know he's actually a member of Interpol, so don't bother asking them."

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Sonic asked with confusion lacing his words.

"Anyway, let me go ahead and show the court the murder weapon that I took," the agent quickly changed subjects as he turned towards the courtroom entrance. "Go ahead and bring it in now, Leon!"

As if it were on cue, the doors to the courtroom opened and an albino lion on all fours came inside. He looked exactly like the person in the Picture Tails had presented earlier. In his mouth was what looked to be an Ornamental Cane with a gold handle and artistic designs along the base.

"Here you go, big brother!" the lion happily said after dropping the cane next to Salem. "I told you I wouldn't lose it."

"So that the court will know, this guy is my little brother. His name's Leon and he's an Interpol Agent like me. He's just finished hiding out from the smuggling ring we were looking into who wanted him dead after somehow figuring out he was an agent. He may be young, but he definitely has it in him to be with Interpol."

"So that's why you wanted to hire the Chaotix Detective Agency to look for him!" Tails responded excitedly. "You were still on the job with the smuggling ring and didn't want your position to be compromised."

"Always the sharp one, aren't you?" Salem complimented before motioning for Leon to go back into the courtroom lobby. "But that's beside the point right now. If it would please the court, I would like to submit this into your evidence compilation. And as a bonus for you, the Interpol forensics department has already conducted a test on the blood and concluded it belonged to your victim. There were also no fingerprints to be found anywhere on this cane, so there's no way to tell who dealt the killing blow."

"The court accepts this as evidence," the Judge announced as he seemed to finally warm up to the fact that the cat was indeed only acting in the interest of Interpol at the time. "Hmm, this definitely is quite a piece of work. To think that we finally have in our possession the weapon that killed Senior Detective Charles Hedgehog. It's too bad we couldn't figure out anything new from it. Oh well, at least it's good to know it existed. The defense may begin with their cross-examination now."

"Now that the court knows he's with Interpol, I shouldn't have any trouble asking him questions relating to the connection between his smuggling case and our murder," Sonic whispered to Tails as he prepared himself for a barrage of questions. "Perhaps we'll finally be able to figure out who the murderer is by poking through Salem's involvement."

"Good luck with that," the two tailed fox replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "With the way things have been going, you're probably going to need it."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Agent Salem, you've said that you only started to work at Prycey Seafood because Interpol had reason to believe it was tied into a smuggling ring you were looking into," Sonic started off. "Do you think you could give us some insight as to why your department suspected this to be the case?"

"Well, Leon was my partner at the time," Salem began explaining. "He had set up a stakeout point in one of the abandoned warehouses across the street from the lighthouse. He reported back to headquarters that there were some rich-looking people entering and then leaving some time later with expensive objects in hand. This all happened in the dead of night like around two in the morning. Some of the items he described also happened to be some of the things that were reportedly stolen. That was when I was assigned to become the cargo manager six months before the double murders occurred."

"Are you trying to look for a connection between the witness's case and ours?" Vector asked. "If so, then I have the same feeling. From what I remember reading about Charles and Maria's last case that they worked on, it involved a man being accused of smuggling priceless works of art into Mobius. Before the case was closed, that's when the whole kidnapping incident took place which then led to their deaths."

"I can safely say that the man accused was not a smuggler," the agent quickly stated. "However, he was the accountant who took charge of all the weigh-ins and such of the incoming cargo. With him in charge of that, it was easy for them to forge the actual weight and keep dock inspectors from catching on. I think I heard of a similar case happening a few months ago concerning a Mr. Naeco Eulb who was both smuggler and accountant."

"Yes, I remember him saying something about being caught smuggling goods by the coworker he killed," the cobalt hedgehog nodded in agreement. He then asked, "Do you happen to know anything about a Detective Ace Sleuth?"

"He was the ring's eyes and ears in the Precinct for the past ten years. With him as a high-ranking senior detective, he was privy to sensitive information that might prove problematic to their operations. However, he started to have reservations when he met his fiancé. That proved to be his downfall as I heard you as the defense attorney managed to indict him for her murder. And that's when the smuggling ring leader probably saw it fit to have him killed."

"And what about a guy named Espio?" the crocodile asked with a slight growl behind his words. "Did you hear his name floating around within the smuggling ring?"

"Oh, his name was probably the only one you'd be guaranteed to hear once every meeting. He was considered to be the ringleader's left-hand man. With his job as a freelance detective, he was able to move around while pretending to be on the job so as to not arouse too much suspicion. And if push came to shove, he would use his superb ninja skills to do away with anybody who stood in the ring's way. You wouldn't believe how angry the leader was when he heard that happen."

"You speak as if you know who the ringleader is," Tails suddenly stated. "Do you happen to know the person's name?"

"I have my suspicions as to who he is, but I'm afraid that's classified," Salem stoutly replied. "He has no apparent connections to your current case. Until you can provide me with evidence on the matter, his name stays within Interpol walls."

"Boy, you sure shut us down on that quickly," Sonic grumbled before clearing his throat. "Then let's go ahead and move onto the next question for the time being. Did you remove this Ornamental Cane from the scene because it was evidence for your smuggling case?"

"I wouldn't have done so if it weren't," the black cat admitted. "While I do regret having hindered your murder investigation, my job as Interpol Agent took priority. I recognized the cane as one of the stolen works of art, so I just had to take it in as evidence for my case. Unfortunately, the ring proved to be a lot harder to take down than we thought. As such, we were forced to hold onto this for the past five years."

"So why bring it to our attention now?" the Judge asked. "It sounds as though your policy is that you keep a hold of all evidence until the case has been closed."

"Unless there comes a time where the evidence holds provable relevance with another case currently on trial but not affiliated with Interpol. That's exactly what we have here, so my boss and I felt it necessary to bring the cane around today."

"Did you manage to figure out anything from the cane while it was in Interpol's possession?" the two tailed fox asked. "I'm sure five years was more than enough time to discover things about it."

"Well, the cane was reported stolen from a museum in Station Square seven years ago. It had been missing until the day I stumbled upon it two years ago. The fact that it was found at the lighthouse indicates to us that it was probably brought there and hidden until it was used as a murder weapon for some strange reason. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out anything more than that."

"In other words, the cane ended up being nothing but a dud," the cobalt hedgehog concluded with a frown. "You just decided that it'd be best to keep it hidden from the public until you can complete your battle with the smuggling ring. Wouldn't it have been in your best interest to simply turn the weapon in to police?"

"Are you suggesting that our witness should have placed himself in unnecessary danger by proclaiming he took evidence from a murder scene?" Vector quickly countered. "Don't you remember him telling us that he was an undercover Interpol Agent at the time? If he were to admit to have altered the crime scene, he would then have to come clean with the police that he was undercover. The difference between then and now is that he was already prepared to reveal his identity to us today."

"Prosecutor Vector's explanation is the truth," Salem agreed with a nod of his head. "Unlike today, I had no reason five years ago to return the cane and thus expose myself for who I really was. For me to have revealed myself then would've been, to put it mildly, very bad. I had just placed myself deep within the smuggling ring and was gaining valuable inside information. Don't forget that I said Ace Sleuth was already with the ring at the time. He would have known I went to the police and tell the boss that I was there. Regardless whether or not I went to rat on them, he would've had me dead quicker than I could've resigned from my post."

"Considering your profession, that does sounds like a valid excuse," Tails responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "I can't even begin to imagine how much trouble you have to go through to make sure your undercover status isn't blown."

"Speaking of which, what are you going to do about your cover now?" the defense attorney asked as he suddenly looked concerned. "You pretty much just exposed yourself to the entire courtroom. If Detective Ace was a mole in the Precinct, how can you be sure there aren't any others?"

"I've already discussed this with my boss, and we agreed that revealing myself as an Interpol Agent was the best move to make. In fact, he had a feeling that we'll be able to get the information we need to close in on the smuggling ring today should your case prove fruitful in its endeavor to discover the truth."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Thank you for your testimony, Agent Salem," the Judge thanked as he nodded his head wearily. "I believe we've heard enough in terms of your relations with Interpol and your reasoning for disturbing a crime scene. It is my belief that you were simply doing your job and not trying to break the law. After all, Interpol doesn't go by our jurisdiction's rules unless one of their agents becomes involved. As such, I'm afraid that the defense's indictment for altering the scene and destroying evidence is unfounded. So unless either side has any more questions to ask, I would like to call an end to the cross-examination."

"I have just one more question that I would like to ask," Sonic stated as he looked at the old man who nodded his head in approval. "Mr. Eres, we originally called you in here so as to ask you for the name of your boss during your employment with Prycey Seafood. We've unfortunately delved away from that, but I would like to ask you now? What was the name of your employer?"

"I'm sorry, but I already said that I can't give you his name as he has no relations to this trial," Salem answered which then earned him confused gazes from the court. "Oh, didn't I tell you? The person who's suspected of being the smuggling ringleader was also the owner of the Prycey Seafood Company."

"Say what?_!_" both the defense and prosecution exclaimed once more. Then Vector exclaimed, "If that's the case, then your suspect has more than his fair share of connections with our case!"

"Why do you say that, Vector?" the cat asked, slightly taken aback at how surprised both sides of the courtroom were acting.

"For one thing, we've already proven that the person who instructed Maxwell Pryce to commit murder was the same as the mysterious fourth witness who only submitted a Written Statement," the crocodile explained. "By comparing the handwriting on both documents, it was proven that they were the same person."

"And then there was the other handwritten letter that was delivered to the Precinct which told of Ace Sleuth's death earlier today," Tails added. "That was also in the same hand as the other documents. In other words, the fourth unknown witness in this current case is a person of interest for the double-murders, a suspect for having instructed a murder in the previous case that Sonic had finished today, and a prime suspect for the murder of an ex-detective who happened to be under witness protection. If these aren't signs of your suspected smuggling ringleader having relations to our case, then I don't know what is!"

"…Wow, I didn't know my smuggling leader suspect became so popular with this court," the agent admitted with a surprised frown. "If that's the case, then I suppose I should tell you the name of the suspect."

"Please do that," Sonic all but whined like a little child. "The only thing keeping us from reaching an end to this case is a stupid name."

"I suggest that you brace yourselves since this might serve as a potential jaw-dropper. Now then, the name of the owner of Prycey Seafood and consequentially a suspect in both my smuggling case and your murder trial is… … …"

"Get on with it!" Sonic, Tails, Vector, and even the Judge exclaimed as the suspense proved too much for them.

"Sorry, I just thought it'd be nice to wallow in the tension that's electrifying the air for a bit. It's not every day where you feel this kind of energy. But that's enough of that. The name of the person we all want to question for our separate investigations is the one person who many in the legal world consider to be an indestructible god, or at least until he was taken down by a rookie just hours ago."

"…Wait a minute!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he along with everybody else in the courtroom froze in shock. "You're not saying that…!"

"Oh, I'm not saying; I'm telling all. The man we're all interested in is none other than the one you call Prosecutor Mephiles, ex-entrepreneur and prosecutor-extraordinaire of your legal jurisdiction."

Upon hearing this, the entire courtroom all but exploded in a combination of loud gasps and exclamations alike. Both Sonic and Tails stared at each other in complete shock while Vector actually leaned his body against the table as if his legs had just given out. The Judge, despite being in heavy shock, tried to no avail to bring the courtroom back to order. All the while, Salem merely stood calmly at his spot on the witness stand acting as though nothing surprising happened.

"I did warn all of you earlier to brace yourselves," he said with a shrug despite knowing that nobody could hear him. "This just shows that none of you decided to take me seriously. Oh well, at least it was a good way to break the tension in here."

* * *

><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Ornamental Cane: A simple mahogany cane with a platinum snake head serving as the grip. The blood on it belongs to Detective Charles. It had been in Interpol custody for the past five years as evidence in their smuggling case until Salem got the okay from his boss to reintroduce it back into the LK-9 Case. It was reported stolen two years before the double-murders occurred. No fingerprints could be lifted from it.

**Updated Profiles:**

Salemand Eres: An Interpol Agent who has decided to reveal his true identity in court in order to be granted immunity from the charges of tampering with the scene of a crime and removal of evidence. He was working undercover in Prycey Seafood Company at the time the double-murders happened. His real name is actually "Salem".

Leukis Kruger: Salem's younger brother who's afflicted with the rare genetic disorder, Feralisis Syndrome. He also happens to be with Interpol. According to Salem, they were reunited after Leukis had managed to successfully shake off members of the smuggling ring who figured out his true identity and wanted him dead. His real name is "Leon".


	32. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 5

Hello everybody! Yes, this story has finally seen a new update after seven months of having put it off. I'm so sorry to you all who have been waiting ever so patiently for a new chapter to be posted. Apart from the few new stories that I've come up with, college really started picking up this year. The work became a bit more demanding and thus required more of my time to actually complete. I'm sure all of you can understand that insufferable pain as high school is probably the same thing at times.

Of course, that's also a warning in that my updates as of now might be on the slow side because of college. It's getting closer to my graduation, so it's time that I start picking up the slack and really concentrate on my work. Still, that does not mean I'm just going to up and abandon all the work I've done on here. All I'm asking is that you all be patient during this time and not go crazy with asking me when I'll post the next update. They will come as they happen, just not when I'm busy studying for my classes.

But yeah, that's it about my educational woes and headaches. The important thing here is that the new chapter is finally up and running. Sorry if towards the middle it sounds kind of rushed apart from the more smooth and less choppy beginning. The chapter had been half done when I momentarily abandoned it, so it proved somewhat difficult to pick up right where I left off. As such, some things might seem too choppy. Sorry again for any of you who notice that. Still, the main plot for the case shouldn't be compromised too much as to what it is already. I still have that part planted firmly in my mind no matter how long it's been since the last update.

And just as a **note**; **I remade the first two chapters of this story.** Out of sheer boredom a couple months ago, I decided to reread what I had first written for this and noticed it was really not as great as it could have been. As a result, I decided to completely remake the first case. The entire plot for that is generally the same with a couple of things tweaked and two new pieces of evidence to help make the case more solvable. If you have the time, please go ahead and reread it. I would really appreciate it.

Also, don't forget to leave a review before moving on to the next story that you want to read. As always, they are always very helpful both for morale and in that you might actually catch some mistakes or other things that I myself failed to notice. And it also helps me to see just how many of you are really interested in this story. Until then next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

And just as a side note, **I've revived one of my old stories under a changed name, "Dimensio Eterne et Tenebrae".** It's a Kingdom Hearts story that's also my first attempt at writing something based on the horror genre. If any of you have the time, I would appreciate it if you went over there and read it. Just note that my writing for the first four chapters probably won't be that great because it was written two years ago, a time when my writing still had a lot to be improved on. It still does now, but it's not as bad as then. So yeah, please read it if you're interested, but bear in mind that it's a pretty graphic story that's in tune with a horror genre.

* * *

><p><strong>E<strong>vidence:<strong>**

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice, the second happening during Shadow's case. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that this also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some kind of connection to the perpetrators of the LK-9 Incident. While a handwriting analysis is desirable, it's impossible to conduct because of a lack of comparison to a specific individual.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. Just before the trial began, it was discovered that both the paper and digital forms were destroyed. Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place that the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business called "Prycey Seafood". It was owned by three people; two of them were Lois and Maxwell Pryce who owned a lesser percentage of the business. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it closed upon being a spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witness found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 case. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he was in a fight prior to dying. The murder weapon has never been recovered.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at a distance and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Written Statement: A statement written by the fourth anonymous witness in the LK-9 case. They speak of how they can't be a suspect because of having performed important business elsewhere. The person also hints that they might have some kind of connection at the time with the local Precinct. The handwriting seemingly matches with that on the Letter and hints that this witness might have something to do with the previous case.

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after killing Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago through ballistic testing that it was fired from the Pistol that was used once again on Prosecutor Flora Mae. According to the trajectory report, it was fired from a position directly parallel to the hallway.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as "Prycey Seafood". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office and then back where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, so the statements were thus considered useless and shuffled away.

Ornamental Cane: A simple mahogany cane with a platinum snake head serving as the grip. The blood on it belongs to Detective Charles. It had been in Interpol custody for the past five years as evidence in their smuggling case until Salem got the okay from his boss to reintroduce it back into the LK-9 Case. It was reported stolen two years before the double-murders occurred. No fingerprints could be lifted from it.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident despite the clear lack of a defendant. He wishes to obtain more information on the case in its last day of legal life and to try solving it.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now watching the proceedings of the LK-9 trial. He delivered the evidence from the LK-9 Incident to Vector after learning of someone destroying both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: An Interpol Agent who has decided to reveal his true identity in court in order to be granted immunity from the charges of tampering with the scene of a crime and removal of evidence. He was working undercover in the Prycey Seafood Company at the time the double-murders happened. His real name is actually "Salem".

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He has been cleared of murder and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what new details will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident despite only reciting what it was he read from the case file.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct. For unknown reasons, he has chosen to refuse to preside over the LK-9 trial.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor and help as much as he can to keep the trial going.

Leukis Kruger: Salem's younger brother who's afflicted with the rare genetic disorder, Feralisis Syndrome. He also happens to be with Interpol. According to Salem, they were reunited after Leukis had managed to successfully shake off members of the smuggling ring who figured out his true identity and wanted him dead. His real name is "Leon".

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Sonic decided to pursue a career as a defense attorney.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Shadow decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor.

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness..

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 32: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 5<strong>

In the chaos that ensued after Salem dropped his bombshell of an accusation, the Judge was forced to call another one-hour recess in order to allow the entire courtroom to regain their composure. It was clear that he preferred to have simply abandon the day's proceedings and reconvene tomorrow. However, he did not have the luxury to make that call as the case was due to be officially closed from any further investigation by the day's end.

Sonic and Tails, both of which having nothing better to do apart from mulling over the details they learned, had since retreated back into the defendant lobby after the recess was announced. Both were seated on the cushioned benches trying to figure out what their next move was going to be. Salem and his little brother also happened to be in the lobby with them and were talking quietly to each other in a corner of the room.

Meanwhile, Vector and Shadow had retreated back into the prosecution lobby right after the recess had been called. Both prosecutors looked rather shocked at the accusation that had just been delivered. Not surprising seeing as how the newly accused was Prosecutor Mephiles, the one person they probably held some respect for simply because he was a high-ranking prosecutor at the Prosecutor's Office. They made no prior indications that they were going to come over after whatever it was they were going to discuss, so it was most likely they were going to stay on their side until court resumed.

"…How are you holding up, Sonic?" Tails asked as he brought a can of soda to his older brother who had since taken a seat on the sofa. "I can't imagine how exhausted you might be what with everything that's happened today."

"No, I'm just full of energy and can't wait to get back into the courtroom and take care of this messed-up case!" Sonic sarcastically replied, taking the can rougher than he intended and immediately taking a big gulp. "How do you think I'm feeling? We just got served a bombshell of an accusation that nobody in the courtroom was anywhere near expecting! I swear; it was like trying to pull teeth just to get that out of that cat! And then we hear that we're most likely going to have to question the most stubborn person in the world once recess is over. I think that's more than enough stress to kill me right now. Were this not the last day for this case, I bet that the Judge would've called an end to today's proceedings!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he had seeing as how the gallery practically exploded when Salem made that accusation," the two tailed fox quietly responded with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's something he'd usually do when the courtroom becomes too excited. How are you planning to approach this case from here?"

The only thing he got as an answer from the hedgehog was some inaudible mumbling. It was clear that he was not going to get anything better than that. Finding it best to simply give his brother some time to collect his thoughts; he instead chose to approach the other two that were still engrossed in their quiet conversation.

"…be more careful than that, Leon!" he heard Salem say once he was within earshot. The cat had seemingly dropped his stoic demeanor and suddenly adopted the attitude of a concerned older brother. "You got lucky that Vector's group was able to find you. I still can't believe he managed to pull it off with hardly any help from me."

"I couldn't help being knocked out while searching the old warehouse and then getting trapped inside the office," Leon simply explained with his shoulder blades rising up in a shrug. "I made sure nobody followed me or was inside at the time. I don't know how they managed to get the jump on me. If you ask me…, Oh, hi there, little guy!"

With that abrupt greeting, the brothers quickly abandoned their discussion before shifting their attention to the young fox who was now about a foot away.

"Hello," Tails greeted with a friendly smile and a wave of his hand. "I just thought I'd come by and see how you two were holding up. You both have been huddled in this corner ever since the recess started."

"I'm as good as we can be now that I know my little brother his safe," Salem explained while nodding his head in thanks at the show of concern. "You could say that we were having a little brotherly bonding moment."

"I don't think bonding moments usually include chewing me out," Leon huffed with a childish pout on his face.

"It's not as though you didn't deserve it," the black cat simply replied. "Anyway, I don't think I ever properly thanked you, Sonic, and Detective Knuckles for helping me. I don't think Leon would be here if it weren't for you three."

"Oh, I hardly think any one of us did anything that's worth being thanked over," the fox replied. "All we did was let you use our phone to get in touch with Vector so that you wouldn't end up compromising your job."

"And it was because of that the crocodile was even able to know that I needed his help. It may seem like a small act to you, but you really did me a huge favor in making sure I didn't have to blow my cover too early."

"Why don't you try lightening up a bit, Salem?" the white tiger asked as he playfully nudged at his brother's leg with his head. "I know you were busy working undercover and all that, but I'm sure you would've found me sooner or later."

"How, alive or stuffed into a body bag? When are you going to learn to start taking this job more seriously? It's dangerous enough as it is for regular people; it's doubly so for someone with your circumstances! I still can't believe I let you persuade me into letting you join up with Interpol. I worry about you enough as it is already."

"And when are you going to stop treating me like a little kid? I'm not going to quit this job just because you're getting crazy worried over me. I didn't waste my teenage years lugging around heavy crates and teaching myself how to push stuff around while on my hind legs just so you could keep hovering over me like an overbearing mother. I've learned how to take care of myself to a certain degree, you know?"

"I don't think throwing your entire body onto an incoming attacker would be considered an adequate defense. You may have a good amount of muscle on you for someone with Feralisis Syndrome, but you have got to come up with something better than that. And I have a right to be overbearing since you're the only brother I have!"

"Uh, I'm sorry to be cutting in here," Tails spoke up with a hesitant chuckle. "I was kind of hoping to have a talk with Leon before the recess is over."

"Well, feel free to ask him whatever you want," Salem replied while shaking his head and heading towards the water cooler. "I was actually kind of wondering when you were going to do that. Sorry in advance if Leon poses too much trouble and gives you explanations that are hardly worth anything."

"Hey, I resent that!" the four-legged teen countered as he blew a raspberry at his brother. "I can be very clear and informative whenever I want to. Anyway," he continued with a clearing of his throat, "what was it that you wanted to ask me?"

_Wow, he acts almost like Sonic,_ the fox thought while giving off a slight nervous chuckle. "Um, I was kind of wondering what you were doing before you went missing. Not only is it because I'm curious as to what happened, but I have a strange feeling that it might be connected to our current case."

"That's all you wanted to know? Geez, I was thinking that you were going to do the same thing to me like you and Sonic did to Salem back in the courtroom. The last thing I want now is to be grilled for details."

"Well, I'm don't plan on being too hard on you. It's not like you've been caught in a lie or a person of interest in some crime. I'm just hoping that what you have to say will have some indirect ties with our current case. I mean, Salem did tell us that you were working undercover alongside him in the same job. At the least, I'd like to know if you being captured had anything to do with what you two were working on."

For a few seconds, Leon was quiet and had a strangely serious look on his face. It was as though he was contemplating whether or not he should be talking about such a sensitive subject. Tails may have only known the lion for a few minutes, but he had a good feeling that this serious look was an uncommon feature.

"…I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you a little bit about it," the lion responded with a shrug. "You've already gotten Salem to talk about his undercover work, so I guess it's only fair if I talked about my involvements. That's provided that said person will even allow me to talk about it," he added before staring at his older brother.

"Don't worry; you can trust him with whatever you have to say," Salem explained before drinking his water. "He and his brother there have done a pretty good job figuring out who I was and what I was working on through their own determination. Being that you and I are a couple of pretty good undercover Interpol agents, I think it's fair to say that they earned our respect for having figured us out."

"Wow, I didn't think this little kid was that good," he chuckled out in amusement. "I guess I better be careful with what I say when I'm answering your questions. So what was it again you wanted me to start explaining?"

"I asked about what you were doing before you went missing," Tails repeated. "When Salem first came to Sonic for help, it sounded like you failed to contact him at the right time which then caused him to be all elaborate just to get ahold of Vector. Do you mind telling me what you were doing before falling off the radar?"

_**Argument: Cause of my Capture**_

To be honest, I was busy looking into the smuggling case that Interpol's been working on. Supposedly, they were close to solving the case. However, they still needed more information before they officially closed in on the smuggling ring. As such, I went to one of their old abandoned warehouses to see if I could find something that could speed up the process. Needless to say, the place wasn't as abandoned as I had thought it to be. Somebody managed to get the jump on me while I was busy searching! I've been locked up since then until someone found and freed me late last night.

_**End Argument**_

"So you were looking for something that could help speed up Interpol's attempts at closing the smuggling case," Tails simplified once Leon had finished with his explanation. "After that, your assailant had you trapped for the past few days until you were found and freed last night. That wouldn't happen to have something to do with your mention earlier about some office space, would it?"

"So you did catch what we were talking about earlier," Salem replied before nodding his head. "Charmy was the one who managed to figure out where Leon was being held. I still don't understand how he and Vector managed to pull it off since Leon is pretty good at keeping his tracks hidden from prying eyes. And as to why he was secretly searching that warehouse, that place is still considered enemy territory. The last thing we needed was for members of the ring to realize somebody was snooping around one of their former places."

"And all that cautiousness might as well have been like me trying to walk on my hind legs all day," Leon huffed with a pout. "I know I wasn't being followed, so that could only mean that somebody was already in that building when I arrived. They must've gotten a good view of me coming if they managed to avoid being caught when I scoped the place before searching. Talk about having bad timing."

"And that was when Salem started to worry when you didn't report back and decided to play the shady card when he first met with us," Sonic added as he finally made his way into the group. "So that's what you guys are doing huddled in this corner. Mind letting me in on what you guys are discussing?"

"We were just talking about the moment before Leon was captured," the two tailed fox simply explained. "I was about to ask him some questions about it."

"Well, it sounds like you're going to treat this like an on-scene argument session," the black cat replied in amusement. "Shadow told me how well you held yourself when you indicted Espio a while back. I always wondered if he was just pulling my leg there. Time for me to see if you're really detective material like he says you are."

"I just pay attention to what's said and point out things that don't make sense. I hardly think this is going to turn into an indictment process anytime soon. But yeah," he stated before clearing his throat. "Let me get some more in-depth information on what Leon said. I'd like to see what you know before the recess is over."

_**Begin Rebuttal**_

"If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been working with Interpol?" Tails asked in an attempt to get a better sense of character. "I think your brother told us when we first met that you're only nineteen."

"Yeah, I'm the youngest person to ever be hired by the organization!" Leon proudly stated with a wide smile. "They consider me to be a prodigy seeing how I started officially working for them when I was just fourteen. Boy, you should've seen the look on my superiors' faces when I first met with them! I guess they don't take age into account when they're hiring new recruits.

"But yeah, I've been officially working on this smuggling case for almost five years now," he explained once he recovered from his excited high. Everybody in the room save Salem were surprised at how quickly he was able to switch between emotions. "I started a couple of months before the LK-9 Incident came about. It was my first official job that just so happened to have me paired up with Salem."

"I kind of already figured on that being the case," Sonic replied as he recalled what he did earlier in court. "I already proved earlier that you were the only person Salem trusted to take the Ornamental Cane without taking it to the police behind his back. And you were most likely stationed somewhere nearby if you were able to come by in less than ten minutes. It'd only make sense then that you were on the job at the time."

"Wow, you pretty much got it right on the nose," the lion said with an impressed smile. "A rookie who's a natural at law and a child prodigy. Seriously, I've heard in my circle that Tails is working with the Robotnik Law Firm as their on-scene detective. Never thought I'd see another fellow prodigy who went through school like it was nothing! That brain of yours is probably better than mine seeing as how you're only twelve!"

"Uh, I don't think any of that has anything to do with what I was asking," the two tailed fox said as his cheeks started to turn red. "How about we just drop the subject and keep move onto my next question? How close would you say that Interpol was in finally putting a close on the smuggling case?"

"Well, they were pretty confident that they would be able to close in on them before the year is over," Salem explained as he took another cup of water. "Considering that they've been on this case for a little over ten years, another six months wasn't too much of a wait for them. Coincidentally, I was assigned to it at the same time Leon was first hired; that means we've been working on it for the second half of its life."

"So it's been going on for a good while now," the hedgehog sighed. "I think I heard sometime during the court proceedings that Detective Charles and Maria Robotnik's last case involved their client happening to be a part of the ring. From how things turned out, I'd say that they were pretty close to putting a dent in their operations."

"Oh, they were the only people outside of Interpol at the time to have gotten as close to the truth of the smuggling ring as they did," the black cat replied. "It'd have serve them a lot of problems seeing as how regular public defenders were able to sniff out a large and complicated criminal organization that kept innumerable precautionary measures so as to cover their tracks. That's when they decided to take out the threat.

"However, they did at least try to pass on the information to us," he quickly added. "I remember receiving a call from one of the two about how they had information regarding the smuggling. We had arranged to meet sometime after the conclusion of their last case, but I'm sure you already know how well that plan ended up working. In the end, whatever it was they managed to find out died along with them."

"And their chance at victory on the ring was delayed for the next five years until now," the defense attorney concluded. "I didn't know my uncle and Maria had managed to dig up so much on the smuggling ring without the help of Interpol. It's kind of funny how it seems like I'm now picking up where they left off. I doubt, though, that they were actually planning on challenging the accused leader head-on in court later."

"I still can't believe that you actually said that Mephiles is the smuggling ring leader," Tails said as he recalled the courtroom bombshell. "Then again, I suppose what you claimed makes sense when you consider all the evidence we have. Still, it's hard to believe that a man who vowed to work with the law would be so deep in the world of crime.

"Anyway, we're starting to get way off-topic again," he quickly changed subjects while clearing his throat. "We'll get back to that later if we still have time. In the meantime, do you think you can tell us exactly where it was you decided to look for more clues, Leon? I know you said it was an abandoned warehouse, but there's a lot of them around Mobius. Perhaps you could simplify things a bit."

"It's the one that was once a part of the now defunct Prycey Seafood business," Leon explained. "Even after our mission at the time ended in failure because of the murders, Interpol still chose to keep a close watch over the lighthouse and its warehouse. Ever since the incident, the warehouse had been left alone with nobody going in and out."

"Then that would mean that whatever was left would still be in there," the fox stated as he seemed excited at the thought. "And you were locked up in its office when you were knocked out. Did you manage to find any evidence there while you were locked up? Anything from the time of the LK-9 Incident that we can use in court later?"

"Sorry, I didn't really have much of a chance to search the place," the lion simply said. "The only time the warehouse wasn't under any kind of watch was the morning I was told to search the place for more information. Apparently, my assailant had also chosen that time to go in and take whatever was inside. When I came to, I saw that all the drawers had been ransacked. Whatever used to be in them had been taken away."

"You're not serious, are you?_!_" Salem suddenly exclaimed. "There were important documents in there concerning the fake shipping reports along with other important records! I warned Interpol that something like this might happen, but they refused to listen! I should've just disobeyed orders and take everything that was in there when I still had the chance."

"It's not like it's the end of the world, Salem. After all, we still have Sonic and Tails working on the case with us. From what I heard from you, these two have gotten pretty far despite having close to nothing when they first started. I'm sure we'll still be able to get our hands on this Mephiles guy before the day is out."

"But that's provided we can pin him for the double murders," Sonic reminded them. "Salem just told us that my uncle Chuck and Maria knew things about the smuggling ring that regular people shouldn't have known. If Mephiles really is their murderer, then his motive would've been to simply keep them quiet. Until we've proven that he did commit the double-murders, I don't think he'll be anywhere near your list of suspects."

"And that's where you two and the rest of the key players in this trial come in," Leon simply explained. "While we as Interpol Agents do have some jurisdiction over the LK-9 Incident due to its connection to our smuggling case, only you two and Prosecutor Vector can further the progression of today's trial. You're the only ones with the ability to find more key details in the courtroom; Leon and I are just officers with concerns to the global law who happen to have exclusive permission to view over case files of various jurisdictions."

_**End Rebuttal**_

"Boy, we sure took a pretty big detour from what my original question was," Tails said with a sigh after having recorded the important details mentioned in Leon's Statement. "Still, I can't say that it wasn't informative. However, I'm still curious as to who it was that imprisoned you in the old Prycey Seafood warehouse."

"Well, I do have a hunch as to who it might have been," Salem thought out loud. "Even though the building was no longer in use, it still required a password in order to get inside. The company maintaining the security is still supplying service to that machine and changes the password to the Warehouse Keypad every six months. Interpol ran a check on who's still on the receiving end of the password updates and came up with only one possible name."

"I think I can take a guess as to who it was," Sonic replied. "If Mephiles is the one the new passwords are being sent to, then that means he still has full access to that warehouse. As such, he would be the only person able to illegally imprison Leon as well as keep watch over any damning pieces of documents that may still be lying in that warehouse."

"That's the only thing we also could come up with," Leon agreed with a nod of his head. "He isn't the kind of person to risk giving the code to another."

"Still, that doesn't seem like enough proof to show he was the one who attacked you," the young fox admitted. "With only that as our basis, there's no way we'd be able to make it stick with a cunning man such as him. He'd probably counter us by pointing out that we don't have any evidence on that regard. Now that I think about it, we hardly have any evidence whatsoever saying that he's the true perpetrator of the LK-9 Incident."

"I think we've already proven today that even a man such as him can make a mistake," the hedgehog scoffed as he picked up the Ornamental Cane that had been left lying against the wall. "He claimed to have a perfect win record during his entire career, but I managed to shoot him off of his high horse. Granted it was damned hard to beat him, so I'm not saying pinning him for the double murders is going to be a walk in the park.

"But you are right in that we don't have a lot of evidence to go on," he added as he nervously wrung his hands against the cane. "The only thing I can suggest doing is to run a handwriting analysis on all the handwritten documents we have in regards to this case and see if they match with Mephiles's handwriting. However, I somehow doubt it's going to be that easy… What the?_!_"

In a moment of surprise, he dropped the cane just as the serpent head suddenly bared its fangs. It fell to the floor with a hollow clatter before rolling to Salem's feet, its mouth wide open as if it were ready to attack whoever dared to pick it up.

"What's this?" the black cat wondered as he picked up the cane and examined the newly discovered feature. "I never knew there was a function like this. I suppose it only makes sense being that it's a snake décor. Still, I never expected something like this from a simple-looking piece of work. I suppose it appears after one has twisted the base a certain way."

"I-I see something on the fangs!" Tails noted as he pointed to said portion of the cane. "I can't be too sure since there isn't a lot of it, but I think it might be blood. If that's so, then that means somebody received puncture wounds from this! The autopsy report on both victims never made mention of anything like that."

"If that's so, then we better get that checked as soon as we can!" Leon exclaimed as he began bouncing on his feet like a hyper child. "It just might provide us all with the break we need to put an end to all this!"

"If Mephiles really was the one who used his own two hands to at the least kill Detective Charles, then the blood would most likely belong to him!" Salem concluded with a sure nod. "I'm sure the good detective was able to land at least one blow against his assailant, but we won't know for sure until we get this analyzed. If it's true though, then it'll definitely put him at the scene of the crime!"

"And you mentioned back in the courtroom that you saw nobody leave the lighthouse the whole time you were there since you heard the gunshot," the fox recounted Salem's Testimony. "If we can put the two together, then we should have enough to adequately indict the prosecutor for the double-murders!"

"That appears to be the case," the cat agreed with a broad smile. "I'll go ahead and bring this cane to the local police department so forensics can have a look at it. Is there anything that you'd like for them to check while I'm there? I have a feeling this might be the last recess, so you best give me everything you want to be further analyzed now."

"…I think it best if we had the Letter and Written Statement be put under a handwriting analysis," Sonic replied after thinking on it for a couple seconds. He noticed his little brother giving him an agreeing nod. "Now that we have a person of interest to compare them to, it shouldn't be considered a waste of time looking into them."

"Alright, then I'll go ahead and take them to the police department," the other said as he took the other two items from Tails before making a beeline towards the door. "I'll try to get back as fast as I can, so just hold out until I come back. Just remember that you're fighting for Interpol as well as for the truth to your case. How this ends will decide how we're going to pursue our line of attack against Mephiles as being the smuggling ringleader. Don't make me regret putting my trust in you."

"Oh, thanks for that wonderful burst of confidence!" the hedgehog sarcastically called out just as the other exited the room. At the same time, the bailiff had entered while looking down at his wristwatch.

"The recess is almost over, Mr. Sonic," the officer stated with a salute. "Please finish up what you're doing and head to the courtroom."

"Thank you for telling us, sir," he answered as the man left just as quickly as he came. "…Oh, I'm so not ready for this! I just gave away pieces of evidence that are probably critical to this case. There's no way I'm going to make Mephiles open his mouth for me on this matter. If he gives testimonies in the same way he prosecutes, then we're going to be in for the biggest headache of our lives."

"If evidence doesn't work, then you're just going to have to try some other way to make him talk," Leon replied as he jumped onto one of the sofas and laid down on it. He then asked with a thoughtful look crossing his face, "Have you ever heard of an interrogation skill called 'The Logic Chess' technique?"

"I can't say that I have, but I would assume from the name that it revolves some level of logical thinking," Tails replied with an intrigued eyebrow raised. "Think you could give us the cliff notes as to what it is?"

"Well, it's when you ask your witness a set of lead-in questions in hopes of gathering small nuggets of information that you can then hopefully use against them later on," the albino lion quickly explained. "You're basically trying to read the witness's expressions in order to ascertain what question suits the situation. In essence, it's almost like a game of chess where you try to anticipate your opponent's next move and beat them to it, hence the name of the technique. My brother taught me that and said it's generally most effective when you have no evidence to use against the one being interrogated."

"Is that because it gives them a sense that they are in control of the situation and think we don't have anything to use against them?" Tails wondered out loud as he let the technique run through his head. "On a psychological standpoint, I can see how this mode of interrogation can be useful. No matter how collected one is, everybody is prone to bouts of cockiness which, in turn, can lead to a fatal slip-up."

"I can't guarantee that it'll work on Mephiles, but it's better than just throwing in the towel when you have absolutely nothing except the power to bluff. Being how things are right now, I doubt the Judge will be pleased if you continued on with nothing but bluffs. If you can successfully pull off the technique, then you just might be able to at the least drag out a new piece of testimony from him. Just be warned that it's not the most reliable way to get more information out of a witness as it's more of a conversational process, so try not to let it be the only thing that keeps your case together.

"And if you do plan on using this, then make sure you sound like you know what you're doing. It was not meant to be used in the courtroom setting, so you don't have as much freedom to ask random questions. The last thing you need now is for the witness to lose patience at your ineptness to create a suitable argument and clam up."

"Thanks for the warning, Leon," the attorney replied before picking up his things from the table and headed out the door. "That'll definitely be something for us to consider trying out should push comes to shove, although I'll probably leave it to Tails since he's better than me in the interrogation department. But yeah, I better hurry on back to the courtroom before they decide to continue the case without me. Let's just hope your brother can come through for us and get that evidence examined in time."

With Tails following closely behind, the two left the courtroom lobby with Leon laying comfortably on the chair. With his paw, he turned on the television with the remote resting next to him, the channel set onto the courtroom where the trial was being held. With a silent prayer of success for the duo, he waited in anticipation for the final showdown to finally take place that would decide the outcome of both the LK-9 Incident and Interpol's case.

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><p><strong>New Evidence:<strong>

Leon's Statement: Testimony regarding the moments leading up to Leon's kidnapping. He entered the old Prycey Seafood Warehouse and went to the office in an attempt to collect more information with regards to either the smuggling ring or their person of interest. Before he could perform a thorough search, he was soon attacked and imprisoned in the office before the Chaotix Detective Agency found and rescued him. He mentioned that the room looked as though it had been rifled through when he came to.

Warehouse Keypad: A sophisticated password system for the door to the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. According to Salem, the security company in charge of the password is still supplying service to the building. However, the bi-annual password change is sent to only one person. It's suspected that Mephiles is the one with access to the new passwords.

Salem's Testimony: Testimony recorded during Salem's court appearance. He testified to working overtime at the warehouse from midnight until one. He made it clear that nobody left the lighthouse the moment he went out to take a look after hearing gunshots. All four employees, including himself, were scattered about the Prycey Seafood Business grounds when the police had arrived. Charles was still alive when he first approached him. He also mentioned that Maria and Charles had knowledge of the smuggling ring and believed through their last case's client that the company had ties to the ring.

**Lost Evidence:**

Ornamental Cane: Was the murder weapon that killed Charles Hedgehog. It's been discovered that the serpent head opens when the base is twisted. Blood can be seen on the fangs; it is suspected to belong to the one who murdered Charles. It was sent to forensics to be further analyzed.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement instructing Maxwell Pryce on how to carry out his sister's murder. With Mephiles now a suspect in the case and having had a provable connection with the now defunct Prycey Seafood business thanks to Salem, it was sent to forensics for a handwriting analysis.

Written Statement: A statement written by the anonymous fourth witness in the double murders. It is suspected that Mephiles was the one who wrote it and is thus the fourth witness in the double murders and the one responsible for Ace's murder. It has been sent to forensics for a handwriting analysis.

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><p>Well, that's it for this new chapter that took a while to make. I understand that this could easily just be seen as a filler chapter. To be honest, that's kind of what I already had planned before I temporarily abandoned this story. It's just a way for them all to really take a break and collect their thoughts after having been offered a bombshell of an accusation. Too many things going on at once; they need some time to really absorb all the information.<p>

Also, it's been during my hiatus moment that I actually decided to give up waiting for Ace Attorney Investigations 2 and just watch the translated episodes on Youtube. Needless to say, I finally have a better understanding as to how the Logic Chess system works. As such, I decided to give it a late introduction into this story. That and I can already envision it being hard for me to write down Mephiles's testimony what with how collected and purposefully vague he can be. In the end, asking him questions might be the only way to expose him for the man he really is, or at least in accordance to what Salem and Leon claim him to be.

But yeah, I really hope you all enjoyed this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review before moving onto the next story you want to read. I would like to know what you all think about it. I promise you all that the end is now in sight and that it'll definitely be a fun and suspenseful ride. Until the next update to this and any of my other stories on here everybody!


	33. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 6

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this wonderful story! Yeah, it's a rather fast update consider the long hiatus moment I was on for the past few months. That's because I'm right now on summer vacation from my college classes! It's a well-deserved break if you ask me seeing as how I worked my butt off to get a C+ and a B+. Yeah, I only took two classes for summer; that's because summer doesn't generally offer a lot of good classes for Juniors to take. Still, that's not too bad of a result if you ask me! And when you take into consideration the fact that I only just managed to bounce back from academic disqualification just before the summer session started, I would say that these two grades are pretty good for an official reboot start to my college career. Now here's to hoping I can keep it up from here on out, although I'm sure I can handle it now after experiencing the ordeal I went through just to be reinstated!

But yeah, that's enough about my school life. The point is I'm now on a two week summer vacation now that the summer quarter is over. this should mean that I can squeeze in another chapter or so within the two weeks I have for vacation. I'm really excited at that prospect. I should also let you know that this story is almost officially over! I can't believe I'm actually saying that! This has been one of the stories that I thoroughly enjoyed writing for the past two years; I'm actually kind of sad that it's now almost over with. Oh well, all good things must come to and end. At least I intend to make this all end with a big bang! I guess then that you can consider this chapter to be part one of the big bang exit!

And on that note, let me just say that this chapter will be the first and only official showing of the Logic Chess system. The reason why I introduced it so late is because I've only just seen the translated version of Ace Attorney Investigations 2 on youtube a couple of weeks ago. Until then, I had no idea how the Logic Chess system worked. That's why it has been pretty much nonexistent for the entirety of this story until this point.

Now that I'm able to understand what was being said courtesy of **dowolf**, the one responsible for the translation of the entire game which is still a work in progress, I now have a solid understanding of it. For those of you who have seen his translation work, then I hope my rendition of the Logic Chess system was as you expected. If you never seen his work on the video, then I suggest that you watch it and see the parts with the Logic Chess to get an understanding as to the basis of the system itself. While it's not as fun watching it as it would be playing it out for yourself, it does showcase how questions can be very effective when asked at the correct time. It's almost like a reflection of real life where you sometimes have to start out small before being able to tackle on the main reason of something.

Overall, I really hope that this chapter reaches your expectations and showcases how awesome the end of this trial is going to be. I promise you all that this is going to be anything but a smooth ride! Then again, it's not like Sonic and Tails had it easy just to get to this point. It'd be a miracle if they could win it so easily.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story. They are always very helpful as morale boosters to get my creative thoughts moving, especially since I'm so close to the end and want to keep the excited high of almost officially completing a story! Until the next update to this and any of my other stories on this site everybody!

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><p><strong>E<strong>vidence:<strong>**

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice, the second happening during Shadow's case. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that this also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. Just before the trial began, it was discovered that both the paper and digital forms were destroyed. Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place that the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business called "Prycey Seafood". It was owned by three people; two of them were Lois and Maxwell Pryce who owned a lesser percentage of the business. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it closed upon being a spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witness found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 case. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he was in a fight prior to dying. The murder weapon has never been recovered.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at a distance and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after killing Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago through ballistic testing that it was fired from the Pistol that was used once again on Prosecutor Flora Mae. According to the trajectory report, it was fired from a position directly parallel to the hallway.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as "Prycey Seafood". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office and then back where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, so the statements were thus considered useless and shuffled away.

Leon's Statement: Testimony regarding the moments leading up to Leon's kidnapping. He entered the old Prycey Seafood Warehouse and went to the office in an attempt to collect more information with regards to either the smuggling ring or their person of interest. Before he could perform a thorough search, he was soon attacked and imprisoned in the office before the Chaotix Detective Agency found and rescued him. He mentioned that the room looked as though it had been rifled through when he came to.

Warehouse Keypad: A sophisticated password system for the door to the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. According to Salem, the security company in charge of the password is still supplying service to the building. However, the bi-annual password change is sent to only one person. It's suspected that Mephiles is the one with access to the new passwords.

Salem's Testimony: Testimony recorded during Salem's court appearance. He testified to working overtime at the warehouse from midnight until one. He made it clear that nobody left the lighthouse the moment he went out to take a look after hearing gunshots. All four employees, including himself, were scattered about the Prycey Seafood Business grounds when the police had arrived. Charles was still alive when he first approached him. He also mentioned that Maria and Charles had knowledge of the smuggling ring and believed through their last case's client that the company had ties to the ring.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident despite the clear lack of a defendant. He wishes to obtain more information on the case in its last day of legal life and to try solving it.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now watching the proceedings of the LK-9 trial. He delivered the evidence from the LK-9 Incident to Vector after learning of someone destroying both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: An Interpol Agent who has decided to reveal his true identity in court in order to be granted immunity from the charges of tampering with the scene of a crime and removal of evidence. He was working undercover in the Prycey Seafood Company at the time the double-murders happened. His real name is actually "Salem".

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He has been cleared of murder and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what new details will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident despite only reciting what it was he read from the case file.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct. For unknown reasons, he has chosen to refuse to preside over the LK-9 trial.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor and help as much as he can to keep the trial going.

Leukis Kruger: Salem's younger brother who's afflicted with the rare genetic disorder, Feralisis Syndrome. He also happens to be with Interpol. According to Salem, they were reunited after Leukis had managed to successfully shake off members of the smuggling ring who figured out his true identity and wanted him dead. His real name is "Leon".

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Sonic decided to pursue a career as a defense attorney.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Shadow decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor.

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness.

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><p><strong>Chapter 33: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 6<strong>

"Court will now reconvene!" the Judge announced once everybody had returned to their respective places in the courtroom. "I trust that everybody has had a chance to calm down during the past hour. I wish I could say that same for myself, but things are just too amazing to simply relax now. Anyway, I believe we left off from when our previous witness let loose a rather shocking claim."

"As shocking as it is, I doubt that Interpol Agent Salem would make such an accusation lightly," Vector replied, his arms crossed as though he were thinking heavily about something. "In fact, the basis of his accusation is merely on the grounds that Prosecutor Mephiles is the perpetrator behind the smuggling ring he's been investigating. I'm sure he has a certain amount of evidence that he felt confident enough to confide in us what I assume to have otherwise been rather sensitive information.

"Consequentially, his investigation has merged with our case due to the fact that they both happen to take place at the lighthouse as well as having the same person in both incidents being of high interest," he added while unconsciously casting a glance towards the defense. "He's already explained in detail his reasons for working at Prycey Seafood five years ago and provided us with the murder weapon for the LK-9 Incident after explaining that he took it because of its ties to the smuggling. This is irrefutable proof that both these investigations are interconnected to one another!"

"I must agree with Prosecutor Vector, Your Honor," Sonic spoke up in show of support. "If Prosecutor Mephiles really was the fourth witness in the double-murders five years ago, then it would stand to reason that he was the one who had control over the Prycey Seafood business. As such, he would have power to oversee the business operations as well as what goes in the cargo meant to be sent out. In terms of Interpol's smuggling case, this meant he had the means and routes necessary to smuggle away goods if he is in fact the true perpetrator."

"I suggest that we leave that portion of the investigation to Interpol," the old man replied while looking thoughtful about something. "It was only by their good graces were we able to learn of such information today. However, let me go on the assumption for a while that the good prosecutor really is in fact the leader of a smuggling ring. I fail to see how that would have any correlation to his want to kill Detective Charles and Defense Attorney Maria Robotnik. As far as I knew, those two had nothing to do with any cases involving smuggling."

"Don't you remember what Interpol Agent Salem mentioned during his testimony?" the hedgehog reminded him. "He said that the two were the only ones outside of Interpol to have known anything about the smuggling ring. Their client happened to have been a member of said ring; however, he was made into a scapegoat for the case he was involved in. I would suppose that was when the detective and defense attorney learned about a bunch of shady dealings within the seafood company. It was since then that they had connections with the previous witness until the night they died."

"This also meant that Interpol had the rare opportunity to obtain some valuable insider information courtesy of the two LK-9 murder victims," Tails continued as he began reading through records of the day's previous testimonies. "Because they were defending a man who had ties with the smuggling ring and was providing them with information on the group, they called it in to the agency who then referred them to a proper correspondent. This in and of itself is evidence that they both had some level of involvement with Interpol's case! And if you continue on with the assumption that Prosecutor Mephiles is the smuggling ringleader, the fact that the two were getting information from a former member is more than enough reason to want to commit murder!

"Of course, everything we've said so far is nothing more than speculation at this point," he added just as he saw the Judge's face reflect the concern. "I will readily admit that we lack the proper evidence to back up these claims. That's why we request that we be able to hear from Prosecutor Mephiles himself about what happened at the lighthouse five years ago. While we may not uncover anything about the smuggling, we can at the least learn something new about the conditions of the day of the double-murders."

For a couple of moments, the Judge looked lost in thought as he considered the request. It was almost as though he were having a hard time believing that a fellow overseer of the law would be wrapped up in something like murder and smuggling.

"… …I suppose that's all we can do considering the circumstances before us," he finally replied with a sigh. "With the accusation the previous witness made on top of your interesting bouts of conjecture, I feel it only fair if the good prosecutor were here to defend himself. Bailiff, if you would please ask Prosecutor Mephiles into the courtroom."

"There's no need for that, Your Honor," a familiarly deep voice suddenly replied just as the courtroom doors opened. Walking in with stiff and even steps was the man whom they were all now curious about, Prosecutor Mephiles. "I've already saved you all the time and came down here myself."

"P-Prosecutor Mephiles! How did you know that we were planning on summoning you here to testify?"

"I had been in the courthouse library looking over some details for my later cases," the old prosecutor simply explained as he took his spot at the witness stand. "That was when one of the attorneys approached me and said I've been named a person of interest in this case. That's how I came to notice that you might want me down here to testify about certain matters before you announced the recess. I can't even begin to tell you how many fellow attorneys seemed to have heard of this and are waiting with bated breath for the results," he added with an amused scoff. "It's almost as though they're waiting to see if they won the lottery."

"I suppose then you know why we've expressed an interest in calling you here," Vector merely said as he began fidgeting with the cord of his headset. "That'll help make things move at a smoother pace. Let us go ahead and cut to the chase; would you please state your name and occupation for the court?"

"You seem especially blunt right now, Prosecutor Vector. I can't understand for the life of me why you're choosing to side with a witness who made an accusation that he can't back up with sufficient evidence."

"Your name and occupation, _witness,_" the crocodile repeated with added emphasis on the last word. Even the defense team were surprised at how serious he had suddenly become and dared to vocally stand against someone of higher seniority. "Don't make me have to repeat myself again."

"You really are serious, are you?" the other replied with a stoic face that no doubt hid a myriad of feelings at the current situation. "I suppose I have no choice but to play along with this charade of a trial lest I get slapped with contempt of court. My name is Mephiles; I'm one of the top prosecutors employed by the state's prosecutorial offices."

"Prosecutor Mephiles, you've been called into this courtroom because you were named as a person of interest in the murders of the LK-9 Incident," the Judge started off the witness proceedings. "You were also suspected as being the ringleader of a smuggling ring by the same witness. As such, we would like to ask you a couple of questions and allow yourself to defend against these claims."

"I fail to see exactly what it is I have to defend myself against, Your Honor. As I've already mentioned earlier, the witness you heard from before this recess just spontaneously made a claim that I was the one responsible for the murders five years ago. From what I've managed to gather about this interesting situation, his claim doesn't even have a shred of evidence to back it up! I find it hard to believe you're all entertaining this notion. And I'm not even going to explain to you all the idea of me being a smuggler. I don't know what they're doing in Interpol, but I can assure you that they're merely wasting their time. I have better and more important things to do than to smuggle around illegal goods."

"I'm sure that working as one of the country's top prosecutors can eat up a lot of your precious time," Sonic sarcastically replied, earning him a glare from the witness. "But I'm sure you can find the tie in your busy schedule to give us testimony explaining why you can't have been the one responsible for the double-murders five years ago."

"I wouldn't be caught standing here enduring your bouts of even if I had all the time in the world!" Mephiles bit back nastily. "And under the current light of things, you don't have the right to ask me to testify. You've yet to hold up your end of the bargain as an attorney. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't any evidence that supports the idea of me being a murderer; you can't even prove that I was at the scene of the crime! All you have is the spontaneous accusation from a man who claims to work for Interpol. I know for a fact that they don't deal with local murders, so his claim is already of a questionable nature."

"He only made that claim because of the many connections between his investigation and this case," the cobalt hedgehog explained as he tried to stay on the offensive. "Even the Judge has taken notice of it or he wouldn't have entertained the idea of summoning you here. That should be reason enough for you to at least want to defend yourself!"

"You really are a persistent little upstart!" the old hedgehog sneered. "You've let all your past wins get to your head and deluded yourself into thinking you can get your witnesses to do anything simply by demanding. I happen to be a person with great knowledge about the law, and I'm not obligated to give testimony regarding a claim that has yet to see any potential of being the truth. As such, I don't have to answer any of your questions and inadvertently provide fuel to the flames of disaster that you've created!"

"…As much as I hate to admit it, he's right about this," Vector begrudgingly began to explain. "Claims that are only backed by a single person's words and can't be confirmed through a second witness or concrete evidence usually isn't testimony material. Unless there is evidence that even shows the smallest of hints of his involvement, he doesn't have any legal obligation to provide us with testimony."

"It's true that we only called him in because of an unsubstantiated claim," the Judge nodded his head in agreement. "I'm afraid we are all at fault to some degree for having jumped the gun. Mr. Sonic, do you have any kind of evidence that can show us how the witness might be related in any way possible to this case?"

"Of course I don't have any evidence!" Sonic exclaimed, quickly growing frustrated at how much more difficult it had become. "That's why it's in the court's best interest to hear what Prosecutor Mephiles has to say in order to clear up any confusion!"

"And allow you to waste more of the court's precious time on something completely unrelated? I'm truly amazed at how you're always able to get away with it. You lack evidence that shows any hint of my supposed involvement with this case, so you have no basis for having called me in here. And it's on that same note that I have no obligation to provide you with any testimony as your original assumption can't even withstand simple scrutiny!"

"Testimony isn't the only thing we can demand from you!" Tails, who had been quiet ever since Mephiles showed up, exclaimed. "Questions are also something we can have you answer so long as they pertain to the current topic. With that in mind, I think it'd be in your best interests if you were to stay and answer."

"Questions of any caliber can only get you so far when faced without testimony," the witness asked, sarcasm written clearly on his face. "I'll admit that you have an unusually bright mind, but you're clearly just trying to find some flimsy way to keep this trial alive. I would hate to see you thrown in jail for actions construed as contempt of court."

"Your concern is unnecessary but duly noted," the fox replied with the same sarcastic bite. "Regardless, I will be asking you questions. I promise you that they have regards to this trial. Just think of it this way; I might be completely wrong on one of my assumptions. If you're not here to defend yourself, then I'll be forced to assume the worst. So unless you want me to unintentionally sully your name, I suggest you stay and listen to what I have to say!"

For a few moments, the two merely stared at each other as if they were trying to burn holes into the other. Mephiles seemed intent on wanting to leave as quickly as possible; Tails was doing everything he can to entice him to stay and answer questions. The two of them were enough to make the air filled with tense energy.

"…I suppose you do have a point about that," the old hedgehog finally gave in with an annoyed sigh. "Just make sure you say whatever you have to say quickly and that it's on topic. I would hate for my most entertaining moment in years to be suddenly cut short."

"What are you trying to do, Tails?" the blue hedgehog whispered once the witness had finally conceded into staying for a while. "There's no way we can get him to tell us more about this case. He refuses to testify on the grounds that there isn't any evidence that can cast any suspicions on him!"

"Then I'll have to use the technique Leon explained to me a few minutes ago," the other explained as he began to mentally prepare himself for the coming battle. "I don't see how else we're going to pull anything new out of him. We need to show that we have ample reason for wanting his testimony, and this is the only way I can think of making it happen. Just promise me that you'll let me do most of the talking. I'll need all the concentration I can get since I hardly have any idea what I'm really supposed to do. Make sure that whatever you want to say doesn't end up throwing us off track."

"…I sure hope you know what you're doing," he murmured before resigning himself to be a back seat viewer of whatever was about to take place.

_**Begin Logic Chess**_

_**(Knowledge of the LK-9 Incident)**_

"How about we start off with a simple question?" Tails started off as he tried to come up with a suitable opening question that would hopefully lead him to the real answer that would make Mephiles testify about being a person of interest. "Are there any details you can share with us that pertain to this case?"

"If you think asking me that will help garner you more information, then you're sorely mistaken," Mephiles explained with his arms crossed. "I hardly know a thing about this incident. All I know is that a detective and defense attorney were killed during it. It truly is a shame that they both died, but it can't be helped that they stuck their noses in business that didn't concern them. If you ask me, they got what was coming to them."

"What did you say?_!_" Sonic shouted as his temper quickly rose upon hearing his beloved uncle being insulted. Tails immediately placed a hand on the other's arm in an attempt to calm him down. It barely worked as the defense attorney settled for glaring harsh daggers at the old hedgehog's direction.

"No need to rile yourself up over that," he continued on with a smug look. "It's merely my opinion on the matter. Don't get me wrong; I understand that they died while trying to save both you and your friends. However, I fail to see how that justifies their brash behavior. As much as I hate to say it, they should've continued on with their case and let the police handle the search for you. God knows how much more aggravation they caused for them after managing to get themselves killed. Then again, I suppose it's a godsend for me and my fellow prosecutors now that they're not here to hound us at every case we work on."

"I'll take it that you weren't terribly fond of the two," the fox calmly replied while trying to keep the anger bubbling inside him from taking over. "It should be safe to assume then that you didn't have much of a work relationship with either one."

"I make it a rule to never associate myself with the likes of defense attorneys and their hired help outside of a courtroom. I see little point in becoming friends with the enemy when I'm merely going to crush them once we cross paths in the battle with the law. In the end, you can only rely upon yourself to move forward in this world."

"Working alone can only get you so far," Vector stated while trying to hide his confusion as to what the defensive team had planned. "There had to have been times when you had to rely on the help of others in order to solve your cases. Even a man such as you has their limitations when it comes to the collecting and examination of evidence."

"Those kinds of relations hardly count," the witness merely scoffed. "The Prosecutor's Office and the police department couldn't be further away from each other in terms of my work position. And even if I have to take to the field myself, I make sure they all know to never approach me for any reason apart from the discovery of new evidence. So long as they stay out of my way, they needn't fear my wrath during their next performance hearing.

"However, Detective Charles and Ms. Robotnik always seemed to make it a point to stick their noses in all of my investigations," he continued as he let a growl leave his mouth. "That was already odd in itself as they were merely working on behalf of another defense attorney I would be facing off against later. They've always served as a thorn on my side by disrupting the investigation and providing my opponent with material that I planned to keep to myself until the moment it hurt the defense the most.

"Imagine how happy I was when I heard that I was to finally face them in court. To exact revenge on them for causing me so much grief and making it harder to ensure my victories was the most exhilarating thing I've experienced in years."

Becoming somewhat disturbed by Mephiles's reaction, Tails chose to ignore him. At the same time, he kept careful watch over Sonic and made sure he did not try making any uncalled outbursts that might derail their plans.

"In the end, I was the prosecutor to have faced the two in court for their final case before they passed on," Mephiles said with faux sadness in his tone. "In a sense, I am kind of saddened that they died before they could even finish it. It's unfortunate how their deaths couldn't reflect how tenaciously they tried to overthrow my solid theories. Detective Charles being beaten to death certainly didn't cross my mind as a way he could've died; Ms. Robotnik dying from a bullet was even more of a shock. Then again, I suppose being shot in the back of the head would most likely ensure immediate death under any circumstances."

"…I thought you said earlier you didn't know much about this case?" Sonic suddeenly cut in once he caught this slip. "You just blatantly contradicted yourself! How could you be so detailed with their deaths if you claimed to have not known much?"

"…It appears you're ready to make something big out of nothing in order to keep this trial going," the old prosecutor simply replied after pausing for a moment. "I really hope the Judge isn't willing to let this continue on as you drag me further in. Regardless, I will admit that I know more about the case than I previously let on. I'll even go so far as to say that I have went and read through some of the documents occasionally."

"So he read over the case files and became familiar with the details," Tails murmured as he tried to figure out what he could do with this information. "Strange why he would want to keep this from us, but I can't say much on it right now. More importantly, I think I can use this to form another mode of questioning. Thanks for the help, Sonic!"

"Hey, I just caught a rather obvious slip of the tongue on his part," the hedgehog grinned sheepishly. "I'm not about to sit back looking pretty while my little brother does all the hard work and make me look bad." At the same time, he saw Vector looking at them in a confused fashion as to what they were doing.

"As much as I want to question your motives for asking these pointless questions, I'm not in much of a position to do so since they surprisingly seem to pertain to this case," the crocodile answered harshly despite his eyes reflecting how he actually was intrigued by it all. "Just make sure you don't start asking unrelated questions. I'd hate to have to ask the Judge to put an end to this admittedly entertaining show because of that!"

"He may be pretending to resist us, but does he have to make it sound that real? If I didn't know any better, I'd think he'd be hating us for this!"

"I'm sure that's his way of making sure we stay on track," the fox explained. "All we can do is make sure we live up to his expectations. For now, let's just continue asking questions and figure out Mephiles's reasons for not wanting to take on this case!"

_**(Refusing to Oversee the Trial)**_

"I think it's safe to assume that you knew as much about the case as we did when we first started," Tails began. "That makes me wonder about your actions today. Why did you choose not to oversee this trial as its prosecutor when you heard that it was to be reopened? For a man of your caliber, I don't see any reason why you would want to refuse."

"Logically speaking, the chances of this case being solved are beyond what any attorney worth his salt would consider wasting time on regardless of the fact that I did know as much as you," Mephiles merely replied. "That and my time is worth a lot; I don't go prosecuting cases without having first performed adequate investigations. I don't see any point in squandering it over this when I can be doing something more productive like attending to the other cases that are stacking up in my office.

"And if that isn't good enough reason for you, then consider the lack of a defendant as another," he continued to explain. "If nobody is to be punished for their crimes once this is all over, then I don't see a point in me overseeing everything that was to go on today. After all, my sole job as a prosecutor of the state is to punish any who dare to play the role of defendant in this courtroom and keep them from escaping their just punishment. Being that one hasn't been present for this, I'd consider it a waste of time to be using my powers to merely satisfy one's idle curiosity about past events."

"But wouldn't you also agree that a prosecutor's job is to discover the truth of any case and ensure that the _correct_ people are properly punished?" the fox countered as he tried to make sense of the old hedgehog's reasoning. "Just because a defendant isn't present, it doesn't mean you can abandon your duties as an attorney. To say that your job merely requires you to punish whoever happens to serve as your opposition is just ridiculous! How can you do so without first discovering what the truth of the matter is?"

"Unfortunately, the real world of the law doesn't work like that," the old prosecutor responded with a shake of his head. "In a world where people want only the best at their side, attorneys must be picky as to what case they work on. The way I see it, glory is measured on the successfulness of your skills which then reflects onto the reliability of your firm. Prosecutors run under the same process, although what they really gain or lose is the faith of the people counting on them to put away dangerous criminals. The truth is merely a byproduct of the process that only serves to confuse if solely concentrated on."

"That may be the truth, but I can say for at least myself that not every attorney thinks that way," Vector spoke up in defense of himself as a prosecutor. "While I am proud whenever I can procure a successful conviction, nothing pleases me more than the discovery of the truth of what really happened. Only then can I say that I'm comfortably satisfied with the job I've done. Of course, it's been clear to me since I've started working that you are a man who only cares of the results. Then again, I fail to see how that matters seeing as how you're the only prosecutor I've known to have both accepted any case that came your way and won them all."

"That's the results of being the most educated person in the world of prosecutors. Any case that appears before me will always be solved with the defendant behind bars. They were brought before me in court for a reason, and the evidence always speaks of nothing but the truth. Take away all the unnecessary questions and you'll have a quick and succinct finish to cases that are always made overcomplicated by curious people.

"And before you say anything else, I have no need for the glory that comes around upon a successful end to a trial," Mephiles added in a prideful manner. "I'm far above such trivialities that come with equally useless titles. However, I can't say the same for my fellow prosecutors and the worthless defense attorneys. As such, I can't for the life of me begin to understand why Prosecutor Vector expressed interest in overseeing this case. It's clear to me, though, that glory and public reliability isn't one of his top concerns."

As much as Tails wanted to say something about how glory was not everything that attorneys should strive for, he instead stayed quiet. He figured that the old prosecutor would just counter with how everyone who was not at his level would require immense recognition in order to be successful.

"Regardless, I believe I delved far from what you originally asked of me," he continued with a sigh after taking note of everybody's silence. "The point I'm trying to make here is that I didn't take on this case because I felt it to be an unnecessary waste of time what with the lack of a defendant. That and I was never properly presented with the opportunity to take it on. So what if I knew about all the information that you all discovered up until this point? You've still yet to arrive at a suitable candidate for the role of defendant and have thus seen it fit to accuse me with nothing more than weak speculation from a sole witness."

"You already knew about all the information we've unearthed up to this point?" Tails repeated while raising an eyebrow at this comment. "I thought you said earlier that you knew as much as the rest of us when the case was _first_ reopened. Why the sudden change in the amount of knowledge you claim to know?"

"…It's because I've become confused due to all the concerns you've addressed to me," the witness replied before tightly crossing his arms in a defiant manner. "However, I doubt that this is something you should be worried about. I've already thoroughly explained myself; I see no point in taking part of something that I was never officially asked to be in and would only be a waste of time. I've better things to do than to oversee something that's only open for one day and has no relations to me in the slightest!"

"Oh, I wouldn't go so far as to say that this case has absolutely nothing to do with you," the fox corrected as he allowed himself a smirk. "I'm sure you know that the events leading up to the birth of the incident are also taken into due consideration. On the day the two were killed, they were in this courthouse overseeing the trial they've been working on. You've already stated earlier that the only time you fought against them was on the last case they worked on. That is as good of an admission as any to the fact that you were involved to some small degree to the LK-9 Incident, even if it was before the murders occurred!"

"Humph, I suppose your claim does have _some_ merit to it," the prosecutor conceded as a deep scowl appeared on his face. "If you allow yourself to consider that line of thought, then I'll admit I was incorrect when I said I had no involvement with this case. However, that also goes to say that this minor connection is the only one of its kind in terms of this incident! Any further potential connections were severed the moment the case I was battling against Ms. Robotnik on was called to an abrupt end!"

"Regardless, it is a connection that the defense has managed to uncover," Vector replied as his eyes suddenly shone with realization. The witness kept with his scowling demeanor as his eye began to twitch the statement. "Under this note, I recommend that we go ahead and explore just how deep this connection goes. Perhaps then we'll see if you truly became severed from this case as you so claim."

"Don't think for a moment that either of you are going to keep this case alive by merely throwing around baseless questions! All you've managed to do with them are pick at the minor details that are completely insignificant in and of itself. I've a mind to just up and leave right now to keep you from further harassing me!"

"It sounds like Vector's finally caught wind of what you're trying to do," Sonic noticed as he saw a barely noticeable smirk of confidence coming from the crocodile. "But it also looks like Mephiles is starting to lose his patience with us! We better be able to find something strong the next time around or he seriously might end up walking out!"

"Then here's to hoping Vector will be able to help us get through this if things start to get crazy. For now, I'll just concentrate on trying to exploit as much as I can from this connection regardless of how small or insignificant it may be!"

_**(Movements before the Double Murders)**_

"How about you tell us just what exactly you were doing on the day of the incident?" Tails asked as he tried to keep a calm demeanor. "I doubt that handling your case against Ms. Robotnik was the only thing you did then."

"Are you really so desperate to find a nonexistent connection with me and the case that you'll ask that?" Mephiles questioned as he suddenly seemed to take on a defensive tone. "I've already explained to you earlier that my involvement only extends up to the point when the trial that day ended. Anything beyond that can't possibly be construed by you in any way as another so-called connection that you're so keen on finding!"

Sensing the onslaught of hostility, the fox merely remained quiet while minutely shifting his head towards Sonic's direction to indicate the same thing. Not only was it unusually hostile; the words also served no purpose to be further probed into. It was almost as though the man was trying to bait them into performing an emotionally driven attack.

"I'll take it by your silence that you finally agree with me," the old prosecutor replied with a frustrated sigh. "It's about time you backed off. Your tenacity truly reminds me of what I had to deal with when I was cross-examining Detective Charles!"

"How so do we remind you of him?" Sonic suddenly asked despite his little brother's harsh glare indicating for him to shut up. "None of us have learned anything about questioning witnesses and whatnot from him."

"He may not have passed along any of his knowledge, but you two seemed to have inherited his annoyingly tenacious attitude. I always had to make a dash to the Prosecutor's Lobby during the recesses just so I could calm down with a cup of coffee!"

"I'll take it then that day was no exception?" the cobalt hedgehog pressed in an attempt to get information from every last relevant statement made. "If we are to rely on your behavioral patterns, then you would've went for a cup after the trial concluded!"

"That normally would've been the case. Unfortunately, something more pressing had caught my attention then. As such, I was forced to put off my coveted cup of coffee."

"What would be so pressing that you would actually consider abandoning your normal routine?" Vector asked, his tone clearly conveying his intrigue at the statement. "If there's one thing I've learned in the couple years I've been working at the Prosecutor's Office, it's that you are a very habitual man. Even doing something as simple as skipping coffee can be construed as strange when you're put into its context!"

"Even the most habitual of creatures is allowed to break a pattern from time to time, Prosecutor Vector," Mephiles explained without so much as looking at the crocodile. "Of course, I would only do so when something urgent demands my attention. And unfortunately for me on that day, my secondary concern required my presence."

"What do you mean by that?" Tails inquired. "Are you saying you went somewhere once the case had been postponed? I doubt you mean back to the Prosecutor's Office seeing as how that's directly connected with your primary concern."

"…Must you always insist on questioning me on every little detail I mention?" the old hedgehog growled, his tone quickly turning irritated. "What I do in my time while I'm not busy being a prosecutor isn't any of your business! It's a little something that I like to consider a part of my personal affairs. It's something you'll never be made aware of."

"Then can you at least tell us where you went?" the fox probed while trying to avoid furthering annoying the witness. "I'm willing to respect your privacy; I just want to know the location of where you went after your trial had concluded. If you really have nothing to do with this incident, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem to tell us."

For a couple of moments, the two seemed fit to simply stare at each other. If looks could kill, then both were quickly heading for a stalemate. The atmosphere was so tense; it was almost as though both were daring the other to say something.

"… …I was an entrepreneur at the time," he finally said while shaking his head. "There was a problem at the business I had invested in; I was the only one at the time able to go there and correct it. And being that I owned a majority of the company's stocks, it was my obligation to make sure everything that came out of the business was as advertised. I'd be damned if I ended up losing money over a mistake some stupid rookie made!"

"I never thought you'd actually go out of your way to participate in something other than a court case," Sonic stated in surprise. "With the way you present yourself in court, I wouldn't be surprised if your coworkers there saw you as a slave driver."

"Don't dare to assume that you know everything about me. There are many things about me you probably never thought I'd be capable of. However, I will say that becoming the owner of a business wasn't one of my originally planned side-hobbies."

"Mind if we asked what you originally had in mind then?" Vector asked without missing a beat. "I must admit that hearing you having influence with a business definitely doesn't seem like something you would ever consider."

"I fail to see what this exactly has to do with the trial," Mephiles simply countered as he effectively dodged the question. "It's something I needn't answer as it only serves to satisfy your idle curiosity.

"However, I would like to address a comment Mr. Sonic made earlier about how I treat my employees," he added as while shifting his attention to the cobalt hedgehog. "I've no need to work them to the bone in order to keep the business in good standing. As long as they're worthy of my respect, I treat them all evenly and in accordance to how the current situation is being reflected. Even my fellow business partners are both competent and educated enough for me to treat them as my equal."

"Allow me some leeway to say that you don't strike me as a person who would ever consider anyone to be your equal," Tails surmised before crossing his arms in defiance. "But let's just say for a moment that you would. If that's so, then why would you have such an imbalance of power in the business? You've already admitted to owning the majority of the business's stocks. That makes you the one with the power to call all the shots without having to earn yourself a consensus from your fellow stockholders!"

"…A business only needs one person to keep it up and running," the old hedgehog said after a moment of silence. "Any more than that would simply be an invitation for chaos to take root. The market the business specialized in happened to be oversaturated; the two co-owners were merely bumbling around like idiots trying to come up with a suitable solution. I quickly resolved it by buying off a majority of their stock and assumed immediate control. Once that was all settled, my singular rule was enough to pull through the oversaturated seafood market. The two former owners ended up working for me as a way to both give me thanks and still have their hands in the business."

"You're the owner of a seafood company?" the fox repeated, his mind quickly beginning to make assumptions based on details already covered from the trial. "I can't believe you would put yourself into such a business. To be perfectly honest, I was more under the impression that you were instead the owner of some high-end store or restaurant."

"Seafood itself can be a high-end product depending on how you prepare it. Treating the food of the sea with the utmost respect during the packaging stages is what makes the difference between a good and bad dish. That is my philosophy. I suppose then that you could consider me as some sort of seafood connoisseur."

"And how would you say the business is doing right now?" Sonic asked while trying to refrain from rolling his eyes. At the same time, his mind seemed to have come to the same assumptions as his little brother. "The way you explained your rather stellar entrance into the company, it sounds like it should be well-off now."

"Unfortunately, it no longer exists. Even with my expertise and guidance, the company still fell apart. As such, I was forced to close it down and cut my losses."

"So how long have you been officially out of business?" Vector asked as he also seemed to have caught on to what the question could possibly unearth. "It's only for the sake of my idle curiosity, so I apologize if I'm asking something off-topic."

"Yet you still proceeded to ask something unrelated," Mephiles replied with a growl of annoyance. "Your apology was hardly worth anything. And even if it were, I wouldn't have been made obligated to grace your question with an answer."

"Then how about I answer it for you?" Tails quickly suggested in a tone that left no room for any arguments. "Would I be correct in the assumption that your business met its unfortunate end five years ago?"

"H-How did…?_!_" the old prosecutor actually stuttered in surprise. Clearly, he was taken aback by this announcement. However, he quickly recovered and continued on as if nothing had happened. "The fate of the business was determined during a private meeting and kept from the public. The only indication that it was still in operations was the bargain made in which certain products would still be sold under the company name but shipped and packaged by a third party contractor. There's no way that a person such as you should be allowed access to confidential information like that!"

"So are you admitting that you were involved with the business until five years ago?" the crocodile asked as he seemed convinced with what the questions had produced. "I can't see how else I can construe your recent statements."

"I don't know how you managed to come across private information such as that, but I fail to see how you intend to uncover something over something as simple as when my seafood business was forced to close."

"The business you had control over was the Prycey Seafood Company," Tails bluntly stated. "By the information that you've already provided us along with the bit of clarification you made earlier, I can safely come to this conclusion. After all, what other seafood business just decided to close their doors five years ago? And since you said you had two partners, I would imagine them to be the Pryce siblings. It would only stand to reason seeing as how their family name has main roots within the name itself."

For a few seconds, Mephiles continued to look shocked over the sudden claim made by Tails. For once, he actually failed to come back with a suitable retort and appeared content to just stare daggers into the defensive team. It kind of felt a bit unsettling considering that the man they were dealing with always had some sort of objection or cocky retort to things that were said against him.

"…I think your silence is enough of an answer for us," Sonic replied as he cut through the immensely tense air. "Pieced together with what we know and what you've told us, the Prycey Seafood Company is the only possibly in terms of the business you were running five years ago. As such, the thing that caught your attention at the end of your trial against Defense Attorney Maria Robotnik was coming from the company's main office in the lighthouse at the Mobius Docks! And coincidentally enough, that was where the defense attorney and Detective Charles Hedgehog were found murdered later that night! As such, your place of business became the scene of the double murders!"

"I still can't say whether or not you don't have any direct involvement with the LK-9 Incident," the fox admitted while crossing his arms. "However, it's clear from the questions that you answered that you at the least had an indirect involvement due to your business being the focal point of the double murders. With that in mind, I believe it puts you under some mode of suspicion in this courtroom."

"I can't see what other excuse you can use to allow yourself to keep silent about this," the crocodile concluded. "As such, you no longer have a suitable reason as to why you would want to withhold testimony in regards to why you can't be the culprit!"

"…You think you're so smart!" the old hedgehog growled out. "You think that since you managed to discover the business I was involved in five years ago that you can drag me into this case? You couldn't be any further from the truth!"

_**End Logic Chess**_

"It looks like we finally established a concrete reason for having you testify to us about that day five years ago," Tails announced with a sigh now that he had finally managed to make himself an opening. "As you were the owner of the Prycey Seafood Company which happened to be the scene of the double murders, you at the least have an indirect connection with it. And since you've been proven to have a connection, I suggest that you testify to us in order to prove your innocence."

"There's nothing I need to prove myself to the likes of you!" Mephiles spat out angrily. "Your questions hardly hold any merit to this trial. Everything you've mentioned has been nothing but conjecture!"

"Nevertheless, it's conjecture that was substantiated by the answers you provided them," Vector explained without as much as a flinch from the harsh glare he received. "And since they came from your own mouth, you can't say that they based their findings on mere conjecture without having to contradict the validity of your own words."

Unable to counter with a suitable argument, the old hedgehog merely balled his hands into fists and slammed them against the witness stand. Even the Judge, whom had been quiet during the entirety of the questioning proceedings, seemed somewhat shocked at the sudden turn of events.

"I can't believe I managed to find a reason to make him stay," the fox murmured before allowing his shoulders to relax. "I didn't think he'd be that hard to crack what with all the questions I was asking him."

"Yet you managed to pull it off," Sonic replied with a smile and a thankful pat to his brother's shoulder. "I really owe you for this, you know? Now we can properly question Mephiles and see just how involved he really was with the LK-9 Incident. Just be prepared to help me in case things go crazy. Knowing him, he's not going to allow himself to go down without at least making our lives miserable."

"As long as you manage to cross-examine him properly, I promise to do whatever I can to help you through this!" the other stated with a curt nod. "Like Shadow said on the first day of his trial, there's nothing we can't do so long as we work together! Let's make good on his words and show this witness what we're really capable of!"

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><p>Well, that's it for this new chapter. I truly hope that you enjoyed it, especially the parts concerning the Logic Chess system. I'll tell you all this right now; it was hell to write out that portion! I'm so used to writing statements that contradict the evidence; I had to rewire my brain a bit so that it played out like in the game where the Mephiles inadvertently contradicted himself without him meaning to. Combine with the challenge to not make them so obvious even to a man of his caliber and you have a recipe for a difficult construction of this chapter. Still, it was fun to write down those self-contradictory statements which all had a connection to the central question Tails was trying to get to: Mephiles's overall involvement with the LK-9 Incident!<p>

Regardless of the challenges, I still managed to get it completed and out for you all to see. As you are now no doubt aware, even a cautious man such as Mephiles can slip up when questioned correctly and persistently. Now that Sonic and Tails have established reasonable doubt in the fact that the old prosecutor was not indefinitely connected to the LK-9 Incident, they can now hear his official testimony. I'm sure it's going to be just as difficult to write the cross-examination portions as it was to make the Logic Chess dialogue if not more so, so don't grill me if it takes a while to be published. I will guarantee, however, that the wait will be worth it.

And as you can see, there are no new evidence to introduce in this chapter. In respect to how the Logic Chess system was played out in Ace Attorney Investigations 2, no new evidence is ever announced during or after the system has been completed. All the evidence that's been recorded at the beginning of this chapter is what will be carried on into the next. I just figured it best to put it up there for the sake of showing what has already been collected and that it hasn't been spontaneously abandoned.

And just as a side note, I'm actually kind of considering possibly creating a sequel to this story once this is done. However, that has not been finalized yet. I need to see if I'm ready to make another two-year commitment to a story that I'm sure would no doubt be popular to all of you who are reading this one. I'm just letting the possibility out so you'll know in advance if I ever do plan on making the sequel.

That's it for my ranting moments now. I should go to bed seeing as how it's like a quarter before four in the morning for me here. Damn me and my stupid bouts of insomnia! On that note, until the next update to this and any of my other stories everybody!


	34. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 7

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this wonderful story that's now almost finished. I can't believe that it's almost done after having worked on this for almost two-and-a-half years. It's amazing, isn't it? This will honestly be the first ever full-blown story that I posted on this site to have ever been fully completed. It's almost a surreal feeling that this will be all over in just a matter of months.

But yeah, I know I promised in the last update that I would have this chapter up in the two weeks of summer break I had. Apparently, I was badly wrong about that and totally underestimated what this chapter was going to bring to the table. This particular chapter morphed into something completely ugly for me to write in terms of all the details and emotion I had to put in. Needless to say, I really made it apparent in this chapter that this case just got harder on a magnitude that I never thought possible to ever write down. And it makes perfect sense for it to be so as since all final cases in the Phoenix Wright series tend to be hard and more emotionally driven.

I'll just shut up now and let you all read for yourself just how hard it was for me to write this particular chapter. Then again, anything that concerns Mephiles is always hard for me to write since he's a total bad-ass, and I don't mean that in a good way.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story you want to read on here. They always motivate me to getting the next chapter out and getting this wonderful story done as quickly as I possibly can. And please try and refrain from leaving reviews that just say, "Oh, that was interesting." Personally, that makes me feel dejected as in you took the time to review yet only felt it necessary to say so little and completely ambiguous. Interesting can either be a good or bad thing; please elaborate on what makes it interesting for you so I know if there's those tiny little things that I don't notice but you do that I have to change. You'd be amazed how even the smallest of changes that you notice can make the difference in how I write the next chapter. So please do leave a review that goes beyond the standard "that's interesting" one-liner.

Now that I'm finally done with my rant about what I feel reviews should be, I'll leave you all alone to read this chapter. Until the next update to this or any one of my other stories on this ever so wonderful site!

* * *

><p><strong>E<strong>vidence:<strong>**

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice, the second happening during Shadow's case. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that this also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. Just before the trial began, it was discovered that both the paper and digital forms were destroyed. Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails and detailing what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career and watching over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails depicting what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by one mastermind who seems to be in some kind of smuggling ring.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place that the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business called "Prycey Seafood". It was owned by three people; two of them were Lois and Maxwell Pryce who owned a lesser percentage of the business. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it closed upon being a spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witness found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 case. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he was in a fight prior to dying. The murder weapon has never been recovered.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at a distance and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after killing Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago through ballistic testing that it was fired from the Pistol that was used once again on Prosecutor Flora Mae. According to the trajectory report, it was fired from a position directly parallel to the hallway.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as "Prycey Seafood". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office and then back where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, so the statements were thus considered useless and shuffled away.

Leon's Statement: Testimony regarding the moments leading up to Leon's kidnapping. He entered the old Prycey Seafood Warehouse and went to the office in an attempt to collect more information with regards to either the smuggling ring or their person of interest. Before he could perform a thorough search, he was soon attacked and imprisoned in the office before the Chaotix Detective Agency found and rescued him. He mentioned that the room looked as though it had been rifled through when he came to.

Warehouse Keypad: A sophisticated password system for the door to the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. According to Salem, the security company in charge of the password is still supplying service to the building. However, the bi-annual password change is sent to only one person. It's suspected that Mephiles is the one with access to the new passwords.

Salem's Testimony: Testimony recorded during Salem's court appearance. He testified to working overtime at the warehouse from midnight until one. He made it clear that nobody left the lighthouse the moment he went out to take a look after hearing gunshots. All four employees, including himself, were scattered about the Prycey Seafood Business grounds when the police had arrived. Charles was still alive when he first approached him. He also mentioned that Maria and Charles had knowledge of the smuggling ring and believed through their last case's client that the company had ties to the ring.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident despite the clear lack of a defendant. He wishes to obtain more information on the case in its last day of legal life and to try solving it.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now watching the proceedings of the LK-9 trial. He delivered the evidence from the LK-9 Incident to Vector after learning of someone destroying both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: An Interpol Agent who has decided to reveal his true identity in court in order to be granted immunity from the charges of tampering with the scene of a crime and removal of evidence. He was working undercover in the Prycey Seafood Company at the time the double-murders happened. His real name is actually "Salem".

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He has been cleared of murder and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what new details will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident despite only reciting what it was he read from the case file.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct. For unknown reasons, he has chosen to refuse to preside over the LK-9 trial.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor and help as much as he can to keep the trial going.

Leukis Kruger: Salem's younger brother who's afflicted with the rare genetic disorder, Feralisis Syndrome. He also happens to be with Interpol. According to Salem, they were reunited after Leukis had managed to successfully shake off members of the smuggling ring who figured out his true identity and wanted him dead. His real name is "Leon".

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Sonic decided to pursue a career as a defense attorney.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Shadow decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor.

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 34: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 7<strong>

For the past minute after Sonic and Tails managed to indirectly connect Mephiles with the murders five years ago; the people of the gallery were talking loudly amongst themselves. It was clear this was something they were not expecting to have happen, especially when the two were honestly already running out of plausible ideas to work with. Even Vector was shocked at the results, although he hid it rather well by keeping a stoic look and keeping his arms crossed as though he could care less. The two took advantage of this chaos in order to relax and gather their thoughts after having been on an immense offensive for a long while.

"Order in the court!" the Judge announced once he finally recovered from his own stupor and noted that the audience refused to quiet down. He had to repeat the command quite a few times as in order to get everybody to hear him, but the courtroom soon regained its orderly demeanor. "I will not have this trial be further postponed because of the gallery's ineptness to quell their conversations! I will not hesitate to punish you all for contempt of court if you refuse to quiet down this instant!

"Mr. Sonic, could you please explain to me what it was that you and your assistant had just conducted?" the old man asked immediately after calming the courtroom. "You were the direct cause of the uproar just now, so I better hear a good explanation as to what the purpose behind your many questions were. If not, then I will have your case thrown out for having caused needless chaos!"

Unfortunately for the cobalt hedgehog, he was not prepared to explain himself to the Judge as to what had already happened. He was still busy trying to recover from the enormous amount of effort it took for him and the fox to get this far. Put that on top that he seemed to have suddenly become the Judge's new target for a verbal lashing and he definitely was not prepared to adequately defend himself.

"I believe I would be faster if I were to explain on the defense's behalf, Your Honor," Vector quickly suggested as he took note of the other's struggle. The old man merely nodded his head in acknowledgement before shifting his attention to the prosecutor. "In lieu of the witness having refused to testify earlier about the night in question, Mr. Sonic and his assistant saw it fit to employ another method of information gathering. As you've no doubt noticed, they had saw fit to ask him questions where Prosecutor Mephiles had the choice on whether or not he wanted to answer. Needless to say, he answered a majority of them and thus proven through his own words that he had at the least an indirect tie to the scene of the crime!

"As such, I'm inclined to believe that this is more than enough to back the defense's request that we should have the witness testify about that day," the crocodile continued on while effectively cutting off the witness just as he was about to say something. "After all, to not do so at this point would probably cause the people to openly express their reservations at the court's overall concern for the situation. That and it would serve to add more suspicion to his character if he were to leave now without first providing an explanation in favor of his defense. I'm sure that's something he would prefer to avoid the best he can if he truly valued his position as a high-ranking prosecutor of the state."

"…To be a prosecutor with any level of doubt hanging over your head is damaging to your credibility with the people," Mephiles growled out, obviously still sore from having just been proven to be his own downfall against his claim that he was unrelated to the case. "I suppose I've no choice now but to testify if only to satisfy the defense's unhealthy obsession with this case. And as a man who has a superior work record and only has the people's best interests at heart, I can ill afford such shadows looming over me. After all, it's for the trust of the people that I always strive for in this business."

"Does that mean you'll speak with us about your movements on the night of the double murders?" Sonic asked once he finally recovered from his offensive high. He was also fighting the urge to roll his eyes at the old hedgehog's comments about being a prosecutor simply as a way to voice the people's concerns.

"If it's the only way to adequately sate your curiosity and prove that I've nothing to do with this, then I shall," the old hedgehog agreed. "Of course, I already know that this is going to be a waste of time. I know you haven't even a single piece of evidence that indulges into your fantasy that I'm the one responsible for the crime. The fact you decided to ask me a bunch of baseless questions earlier is proof that you're simply struggling to find a nonexistent reason to pin me as the culprit!"

"And yet it was those 'baseless' questions that led us to the discovery of an indirect connection between you and the lighthouse where the crime occurred," Tails reminded with hardly a flinch at the harsh glare he received. "If that alone was enough to allow us to further proceed into this trial, then I can only imagine what an 'unrelated' piece of testimony can do for our journey to the truth."

"But what exactly do you want him to testify about?" the Judge inquired, his tone clearly indicating he was still somewhat confused. "Prosecutor Mephiles is right on the fact that there isn't any evidence that puts him under suspicion."

"Actually, there is one piece of evidence that seems to cast a small shadow in regards to his movements that evening," the cobalt hedgehog corrected as he took the Witness List and put it on the overhead projector. "According to this document, there were three witnesses who were questioned by the police and had their statements recorded. However, it also mentions on here a fourth potential witness who refused to make any kind of statement whatsoever and was never heard from. The person who drafted this also went so far to say that this person happened to be the third owner of the Prycey Seafood Company. Since we now know Mephiles was one of the three owners, I believe it's safe to say this report was mentioning him!

"With that said, I would like for him to testify as to why he refused to supply the police with his statement at the time. I'm pretty sure that there was a good reason behind his refusal to cooperate; I would like to hear it along with his justification for it!"

For a few moments, the entire room was quiet. The Judge silently considered the request while glancing about the room. Vector continued acting as if everything was normal, but his nervousness showed through him fidgeting with his headphones. Both Sonic and Tails felt the same way; they both stole a glance at the gallery and saw Shadow, Silver, and Salem intently staring at the old prosecutor who had since regained his stoic demeanor.

"…The defense does pose a valid concern with regards to everything that's been covered up to this point," the Judge admitted after coming to a decision as to what his next move would be. "And judging at how the prosecution was eager to explain things in your stead, I doubt they have any objections to this. I will allow Prosecutor Mephiles to testify about his reasons for refusing to cooperate with the police. I'm still somewhat skeptical as to how he could possibly have any relations to this case, but I must admit that the current circumstances deem this course of action necessary."

"And who am I to stand in the way of Your Honor's coveted decision?" the old hedgehog merely responded without breaking away from his indifferent attitude. "If it's testimony that you require of me at this point in time, then who am I to refuse? And what with how the defense has managed to push some amount of suspicion on me, refusing to defend myself against their claims might as well serve as allowing them to push their delusions unto you all."

"What a way to back up your reasoning for keeping quiet earlier," Sonic grumbled with an annoyed sigh. "At least we got you to testify now. I just hope that this isn't going to be as painful as it was when we were questioning him."

_**Lack of a Witness Statement**_

I still don't see the merit in having me testify, but listen carefully as I'll only explain myself once. As the police began their investigation into the double murders, I chose to withhold my statement from them. I'm more than certain that what I had to say was of no importance. In fact, I'm sure they were more interested in hearing personal accounts from the people who were actually at the scene when it all unfolded. Since I had no idea what happened, whatever I had to say would've amounted to nothing more than conjecture. Conversing with them about this would've been a waste of time much like what the defense is doing right now. Regardless, I'll claim once more that I have nothing to do with this incident. The only connection you have is that the perpetrator chose to commit this crime at my place of business!

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Now do you see why I felt my statement didn't need to be recorded?" Mephiles asked once he finished giving his testimony. "I was never at the scene of the crime when the murders took place. Therefore, I have nothing to do with this case."

"If that's true, then why were you so intent on hiding from us the fact that you held ownership over the Prycey Seafood Company?" Sonic inquired, clearly not satisfied with the response he had just been given.

"Because proclaiming that would've been nothing more than a waste of time," the old hedgehog simply explained. "I know how you have a penchant for asking redundant questions and forcing the court to go along with your stalling methods. Even if I'm merely acting on the mercy for the people in this courtroom; I don't want to be subjected to your baseless conjecture and provide you with an opening to slander my good name."

"Then how about we see whether or not Mr. Sonic is indeed guilty of slander by getting on with the cross-examination?" Vector suggested, his arms loosely crossed as if everything were normal. "If everything you said is true and holds no fault, then we'll be forced to say that you're as innocent as you've been claiming. Of course, you can't continue pulling the slander card if fault does happen to exist in your testimony."

"I've never had any faults when prosecuting my cases; I highly doubt directly testifying to the courts would be any different. I only provide clear, precise, and truthful testimonies to be scrutinized by intellectual minds."

"If that's really what you think, then you better hope the testimony you gave us is as good as good can be!" Tails exclaimed as he stared right at the witness. "Even the most perfect of testimonies has their faults. I believe I proved that to be true a couple of days ago when you summoned Amy Rose to testify."

"That was only because you managed to anger her, boy. Anyone who's been brought to a point where their emotions have become compromised would mindlessly speak of things they would otherwise rather not mention. Don't think for a moment that you'll be able to pull that same underhanded trick on me; I promise you that my composure is much better than that of a hormonally challenged teenage high school girl!"

"…I think I better get on with the cross-examination," the cobalt hedgehog murmured more to himself as he noted they were starting to drift off-topic. That and he did not want the court to face the wrath of Amy should she be watching the proceedings and heard what the old prosecutor just said. "I don't need to deal with anymore drama, but I have a bad feeling that it's just going to keep coming no matter what I do."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"I understand that you're not pleased with what's going on, but allow me the opportunity to scrutinize your testimony for any inconsistencies," Sonic said after loudly clearing his throat in order to get everyone's attention. "I'm sure then you'll understand the importance of having you here testifying as a witness."

"That's some tough words coming out of a rookie who has let his wins get the better of him," Mephiles replied stoically. "If you're that sure of yourself, then prove it through your actions rather than trying to bore me to tears with pointless rhetoric."

"As a person who works to uphold the law, I'm sure you'll agree with me in that the first few minutes detectives arrive on the scene are the most critical to any investigation," the cobalt hedgehog began. "Performing an initial assessment of the crime scene as well as locating and interviewing potential witnesses is a top priority. It's clear by this point that the police did their job by gathering both the evidence and the statements from those who were there. Why is it then that you are the only one who isn't mentioned in the preliminary reports?"

"Because what I had to say had nothing to do with the incident," the old prosecutor merely replied with a cocky half-smirk. "The statements the police have gathered were from those who either heard or saw something in regards to that. And let's not go forgetting that I wasn't there when the tragedy took place. Just by that logic alone, I can't possibly provide the police with a beneficial statement."

"And that's your basis for having felt your words would've amounted to nothing more than pointless banter?" Tails asked, his eyes shining with doubt at the explanation. "What right do you have as a potential witness to dictate whether or not what you had to say wouldn't be of interest to the police? Prosecutor or not, you can't just spontaneously decide that your words do not hold any worth to them! Unless you personally had a hand in the initial investigation, you don't know what they uncovered."

"It's true that I never partook in the initial investigation. However, that can't possibly change the fact that I have no knowledge whatsoever about what took place on that evening. I'm sure they found plenty pieces of paperwork which bore my name. It doesn't automatically say that I am in some way related to the case!"

"Important or not, it was still your duty to at the least report to the police after having heard that your place of business was the scene of an incident!" the fox exclaimed. "You could've testified about how the scene was when you last saw it."

"Objection!" Vector suddenly cut the other off. "I suggest that you move onto another topic of interest. You can beat a dead horse with a stick all you want; it's not going to change the fact that it's never going to get up again!"

"I think what Prosecutor Vector's trying to say is that you're currently pursuing a dead-end question," the Judge explained while nodding his head in agreement. "And I'm inclined to side with him on this. Mr. Sonic, I ask that you either move on to your next question or put an end to the cross-examination."

"If we're not getting anywhere with the sincerity of your claim to refuse to testify, then how about we look at this from a different perspective?" Sonic suggested while trying to seem unfazed at the witness's well-built defenses. "I don't think you've explained yet why it was you felt whatever you had to say about that day would be worth nothing."

"How about you try tracking my movements that day," Mephiles merely suggested while crossing his arms in a defiant manner. "I'm sure you'll find the answer you're looking for if you do that. It's not too hard of a feat to pull if you consider using that head of yours for something other than the creation of fantastical claims."

"Well, it's clear that you were here in the courthouse prosecuting a case that afternoon," the cobalt hedgehog explained as he tried to remember all the details. "Once Maria Robotnik and Charles Hedgehog caught wind of a kidnapping, the trial was put on hold. They then made their way to the lighthouse. At the same time, you said that you caught wind of a problem with your business and had to make your way there. You already admitted to that during our earlier questioning, but that's when the details start to get a little fuzzy. Would I be right in assuming that where you were supposed to go next was the lighthouse?"

"So you do have the capabilities to put two together," the old prosecutor replied in faux praise. "I suppose even a third-rate attorney can have their shining moments. Now if only you'd spend more time coming up with facts based on the evidence instead of leading the court on one wild goose chase after another…"

"However, don't delude yourself into thinking that this will allow you the leverage to pull more information out of me," he continued on despite receiving a venomous glare from the defense attorney for his earlier comment. "Just because my next destination was the lighthouse doesn't mean that's where I ultimately went. If I had, then I doubt we would've had such a long and arduous conversation earlier about why I didn't provide the police with a statement. Now that I think about it, I guess I should be thankful that something else managed to get ahold of my attention and keep me from going there."

"You just provided us with a new statement," the crocodile observed after having listened carefully to the exchange of words. "Looks like you've already proven yourself wrong in saying that the defense's explanation wouldn't garner them new information. Do you mind adding this to your official testimony?"

"Little victories never amount to a bigger win, Prosecutor Vector. I don't know what it is you aim to do, but it is clear enough you'll help the defense whenever possible to achieve their delusory outcome. However, I'll add that statement in only because you did admittedly catch me making an unintended addendum."

_**New Statement**_

While I was originally supposed to have gone to the lighthouse, something of greater importance caught my attention and kept me from going.

_**End New Statement**_

"And it was because of that you say you ultimately avoided having personally witnessed the entire incident," Sonic surmised after having calmed down somewhat from his earlier anger. "Forgive me on this when I say that this sounds way too coincidental for me in that you just happened to receive a call that led you astray from the lighthouse."

"Think of it what you will, but this is the statement I made and will stand by," Mephiles merely replied with an annoyed sigh. "Unless you're able to prove with solid evidence that what I said can't possibly be the truth, I can't see how you can justify wanting to grant it so much scrutiny. Needless to say, the fact that I never made it there means that my ability to provide a statement had been greatly diminished."

"I think it fair to assume then that you refused to give a statement because you knew in the scope of things that what you had to say would amount to nothing but hearsay," Tails responded as he tried to piece all the information together. "I suppose that it does make some amount of sense if you think about it in that way. You couldn't possibly provide adequate information on something that you had no chance of bearing witness to. As such, your real reason for that was not because you felt you held no useful information but rather because of your lack of presence at the scene of the crime."

"Well, it's about time you came up with that conclusion," the old prosecutor chided with a smug smile on his face. "Any person with even the smallest amounts of intelligence in their head would be able to tell that I wasn't at the lighthouse by now. I've been insisting that my words held no weight in the investigation because of that basis alone. That would be the only reason why I've been so adamantly fighting this whole time on the point about my lack of importance as a witness! I find it hard to believe how something so obvious managed to simply elude you all this time."

"I think it's clear by now that you were the one who wasn't being obvious!" the cobalt hedgehog groaned while resisting the urge to slam his forehead on the desk. "You should've just mentioned it to us the first time around so we wouldn't have to waste all this time trying to drag it out of you. This case can't be opened again once this trial comes to a close; we can't afford to be taking our time trying to guess all the possible reasons on why you refused to give the police your statement then! Do you really think we're all here so that we can play a convoluted game of Twenty Q with you?"

"Funny, you managed to put me under the impression that you liked partaking in such childish games," the witness sarcastically countered. "How you've been conducting yourself while you were battling against me in the previous case seemed to be as much indication of it. Should I now be assuming I was wrong and start taking as seriously as I would a veteran of the law? Believe me when I say that you've yet to reach the level where you can even claim to be able to garner such respect."

"Witness, I must insist that you stop trying to goad the defense into bouts of anger," Vector passively requested in defense of the attorney across from him. He had noticed that the hedgehog was quickly losing his cool due to the constant insults and was covertly trying to tell him to keep his temper in check. "As amusing as it can be at times, I'm afraid that the act's starting to become rather stale. That and I'm beginning to wonder whether or not you're trying to lead this investigation astray with this."

"You claim to find it all to be in your amusement, yet you prefer that I put a stop to it. I find it funny how you seemed intent on getting a point across yet only managing to contradict yourself in the end. You best be careful if you insist on wanting to play like that. If you were the one here on this podium testifying about a crime, I would've immediately jumped on you for making such a contradictory remark."

"Prosecutor Mephiles, I must also ask that you desist with your harsh demeanor," the Judge responded despite his tone not really having much of a chiding effect. "If nothing else, it seems to serve as a hindrance to the progression of this trial."

"Then I apologize for having done so, Your Honor. Regardless, I stand by my actions of not providing the police with my statement simply because I never on that day once entered or even went to that lighthouse! They already had the testimony of the other workers who were there at the time; mine had already been rendered unnecessary."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"…I'll admit that you not being there would've rendered the need to have your statement be heard and recorded unnecessary," Sonic agreed after collecting himself enough to notice something strange with the statement. "It would've rendered the need for detectives to hear you completely irrelevant. However, what you just testified has provided me with a contradiction that says otherwise!"

"Well, that's quite the interesting claim you make," Mephiles haughtily chuckled as if he had just heard the worst joke ever. "I do hope that you have some strong evidence that backs up what you say. You do have the uncanny habit of saying whatever comes to mind without even bothering to see if you have anything concrete. As far as I'm concerned, there was nothing in my testimony that you could possibly construe as contradictory."

"Then let me explain to you the things that were discussed when the court listened to Salem's Testimony," the cobalt hedgehog said as he picked up the trial transcript and skimmed through it. "He was working in the warehouse tallying up the stock when he heard the shots. Once he was outside, he saw nobody either running away or arriving onto the scene. He also knew that there were three other employees working in the lighthouse, and I'm inclined to say that you were one of the other three people!"

"Are you sure that's even the truth?" the old hedgehog merely said despite the gallery beginning to murmur amongst themselves. "The only thing you have to back up that claim is the statement of a witness's recollection of what happened five years ago. If you have something that's less of a subjective nature to back it up, then I'll be more than happy to hear it. Otherwise, what you've just said can be nothing more than a baseless theory."

"If you want more evidence, then just relax while I show it to you," the defense attorney replied confidently. "I have with me the Witness List that was drafted by one of the detectives who worked on that case. Recorded on it are the number of people who were potential witnesses to the murders. All but one of the people have been accounted for. However, it does make mention that the person left unaccounted happened to be the third owner of the then Prycey Seafood Company."

Instead of coming up with a retort, the other merely kept his arms crossed as if he were goading the other into continuing. However, his lips appeared thinner than usual. It was almost as if he were trying very hard to conceal his frustration at the matter.

"Judging by your silence, I can see you know where I'm going with this. Being that we already know you had a hand in running the business along with the Pryce siblings; it is proof positive that you are the fourth witness from that day who refused to provide the detectives with a witness statement! Therefore, you were at the scene of the crime and knowingly decided to withhold potentially important information!"

Upon hearing this, the gallery began whispering amongst one another. However, the Judge was clearly not going to condone it and repeatedly banged his gavel. Apparently, his threats from earlier about holding any interrupters in contempt of court were still fresh in their minds as they immediately quieted down.

"…I wonder how eager you are to make this entire courtroom believe that what you said is the absolute truth," Mephiles chuckled with amusement while shaking his head. "You still have yet to provide me with concrete evidence that proves I was at the lighthouse at moment the crime was being committed."

"Didn't you pay attention to the things that were just presented?" Tails asked, disbelief clear in his tone as he tried to figure out what the other was up to. "Sonic has already explained about how you lied about not being at the scene when the murders happened!"

"Oh, I heard every last word your delusional friend spewed out," the old hedgehog quickly interrupted. "However, I believe the key word in the context of things is that I am merely a _potential _witness. That's how I heard myself being described as in the evidence that has been presented. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there wasn't any mention whatsoever about me _physically_ being at the lighthouse on the night in question. The only reason the police probably made any mention of me in the paperwork is because I was, in fact, a co-owner of the business.

"With that in mind, allow me go ahead and voice the true question you should really be asking yourselves," he continued on while making clear the smugness in his tone. "Do you have any _definitive proof_ that suggests I was actually at the lighthouse when the murders occurred? I can assure you that even with the correct pieces of evidence preserved correctly, the passage of time can easily change its overall importance. It's up to you to determine whether whatever conclusive evidence you have holds any real meaning at this exact moment.

"And even if all the evidence managed to retain its original value, I'm sure you would've presented something damning against me by now. The fact that you're not saying anything indicates to me that you don't have the definitive piece of evidence to back up your story. So unless you can show me something that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was at the lighthouse when the murders took place, you can't continue on with your argument! Damning evidence is the only thing that matters in here. Trying to delude the courts into placing me there for your convenience won't solve anything!"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say the defense is trying to place you there for the sake of convenience," Vector quickly objected in aid of the defense. "While I do admit the defense has yet to present anything concrete that says you were at the lighthouse at that exact moment, the evidence they have already presented seems to paint a picture that says otherwise. That and Interpol Agent Salem has proven to the court the reliability of his testimony by providing truthful and provable responses to his actions. He has also provided us with a key piece of evidence that he kept hidden along with a more than sound reasoning for having done so. All that combined makes him into a reliable witness.

"However, I'm afraid that your reliability has yet to reach the same level as his," he continued despite the daggers he was getting from the old hedgehog. "I'm sure you're already aware of this, but you're currently nothing more than a witness for this trial. As such, you need to build your level of reliability from the ground up and through it prove to us that your words can be trusted indefinitely. Until that happens, we can't possibly feel comfortable enough to just abandon Salem's Testimony and accept yours as the real truth."

"Do you mind hastening yourself to the reasoning behind your sudden want to seemingly abandon your predestined role in this, Prosecutor Vector?" Mephiles asked without bothering to mask his annoyance. "The way you've been conducting yourself throughout this trial is very unbecoming for one in your position. I would love to hear why you feel it necessary to be siding with the defense in opposition against me."

"Believe me when I say it was never my intent to side against you," the young prosecutor confidently stated without letting the old hedgehog's tone falter his momentum. "I'll admit it looks that way right now, but that's because you are as of now an obstacle I must work through if I intend on arriving at the truth. While it is highly unusual for a prosecutor such as myself to ever be siding with the defense, I will happily do so if it'll lead me to the heart of the issue! And if the current situation dictates that I must ultimately fight alongside the defense in opposition against you, then that's what I'll do!

"With that said, I believe your main concern as of now is to prove to the court why you believe Salem's Testimony is incorrect. That happens to be the only thing right now keeping your words from becoming a truth. Since you have yet to adequately prove to us your overall reliability as a witness, we can't just suddenly discredit his words and place priority over yours. To put it simply, I believe you should be trying to clear the air in regards to this contradiction and explain to us why you are the one who's correct in regards to where you were that day. If you think about it in that respect, then I'm sure you would find the need for us to hear more testimony from you to be more than reasonable."

Instead of providing a quick and satisfying answer, the old hedgehog remained quiet against the younger prosecutor's passionate explanation. He had since changed the look on his face to appear impassive, but his eyes seemed to be reflecting anger. It was hard to tell exactly how he was feeling about how things just turned out, but the ever minute flash of teeth seemed to indicate an inaudible growl of frustration.

"…I can't say whether or not I agree with the whole of Prosecutor Vector's explanation," the Judge stated as he broke the silence. "However, I must side with him in terms of the level of reliability a witness must put forth when testifying. You are probably one of the most respected prosecutor the state has ever seen in many years, Prosecutor Mephiles. But now that you're here as a witness, I'm afraid that I can't put your work ethics into the equation of witness reliability. Interpol Agent Salem has managed to earn himself the trust of this courtroom, so I'm inclined to believe that his testimony is correct."

"So you're saying that I've yet to earn my place as a trustworthy witness for this case?" the witness asked. "I don't know whether I should be honored in being told to try harder or be insulted for being considered an unreliable witness. Still, it is ultimately your call as the judge in how you wish for things to proceed. I only wish I had more say as to what nonsense I want to expose myself to. What do you suggest I do if you want to see whether or not I'm truly a reliable enough to have my words be considered the truth?"

"For starters, you can try explaining to us just why it is that Salem was mistaken about you being at the lighthouse," Tails suggested as he tried to make the best of the opening Vector had created. "When Sonic pointed out the contradiction against you, you were rather quick to refute the claims. How about you testify as to why you believe the Interpol agent's statements were incorrect in comparison to yours? I don't know about everybody else, but I'm honestly curious about your reasoning."

"In other words, you just want an extension to my current alibi. I now see why a witness absolutely hates coming to court. Very well, I'll prove to you all myself that I'm not some kind of murderer that the defense is painting me out to be!"

_Oh, that remains to be seen,_ Sonic thought as he prepared for another round of testimony. He then said out loud, "If you don't like what you're seeing, then tell me what I need to change in order to make the picture look better. If you don't want me wasting time randomly shooting in the dark, then give me more to work with."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll have a lot more to work with than you bargained for by the time this mockery of a trial is put to an end!"

"Can we please stop with the analogies to pictures?" the old man requested in annoyance. "I would like to get this long day over with as quickly as possible with little to no confusion. We really don't need further provocation to be brought onto another tangent. I'd like for the witness to simply testify about where he was on the night of the murder."

_**Why I Didn't Go to the Lighthouse**_

After the trial had been suspended, it was my original intent to go to the lighthouse. I had some important business that needed to be taken care of before the week was over. Unfortunately, I had received a call just as I was about to leave the courthouse. Needless to say, the caller had informed me of something that proved to be of more importance. Thankfully for me, the new issue happened to take place away from the lighthouse. As such, I never once set foot within the vicinity of the company that night!

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Is that really the explanation you plan on giving us?" Sonic asked, his patience starting to wear thin at how the witness was managing to dodge the main topic of interest. "You didn't even answer what we originally asked of you! We don't want to know why you couldn't have gone to the lighthouse; we want to know where it was you ultimately ended going to! You telling us the reason why you avoided going to the crime scene doesn't really help to set the tone for your claim of no relations with the murders."

"Are you sure that's the case?" Mephiles countered with a cocky half-smile. "The last I heard, you only wanted to hear the reasoning behind me having not gone to the lighthouse. As far as that's concerned, I've satisfactorily complied with your demands. Telling you where I ultimately went doesn't appear to be a part of the requirements, so I'm not obligated to divulge upon you that much information."

"But that's still something you would normally make mention of if you're so intent on wanting us to not be so suspicious of you!" the cobalt hedgehog groaned as he begrudgingly admitted to himself the validity of the counterargument. "Couldn't you at least give us a bit of common courtesy and tell us?"

"I believe that extends beyond the requirements that have been set as per my reason for supplying testimony," the old prosecutor merely responded. "Apart from having no importance in my explanation, it has nothing to do with any of this. Might I suggest you start desperately trying to pick away at my words in search for your precious contradictions? Staying fixated on one meaningless point will do you no good."

"Even though he's just trying to anger you, Mephiles did bring up a good point," Tails admitted. "Don't concentrate on what you think he should've said. Just deconstruct the things he spoke of and see what you can use from it. If you're still set on wanting to know where it was he went, then that might be the only way for you to pull it off!"

"…He's clearly trying to be careful with what he says. That's the only reason I can think of as to why he won't tell us where he really went. And if he really is the murderer, then I can only assume that he's lying about having gone somewhere else! I just need to figure out how to expose him to everybody else in here."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," the fox comforted as he began looking through the evidence. "And don't forget that you have me helping you out. As long as things don't get too crazy, I'll help you out as much as I can."

"If the defense is done consulting with each other, could you please get on with the cross-examination?" Vector asked, his tone sounding indifferent to the situation. "If you're really on the search for the truth, then it's best to not stall the process any longer than is necessary. That and I doubt the witness is going to be any more patient with us."

"Even I'm starting to become somewhat impatient with the entire process, Mr. Sonic," the Judge stated, not bothering to mask the annoyance in his tone. "The day has already gone on long enough as it is. I'd love to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Y-Yes, Your Honor," the defense attorney stuttered out.

"Hmm, how about we make things more interesting for the defense?" Mephiles suddenly asked as a condescending smirk appeared on his face. "I'm already sure that the coming cross-examination is going to be a long and arduous process. As such, I would prefer it if they refrain from continually wasting time by bombarding me with questions. It's clear that they are dead set on making it out that I was at the lighthouse, so they must have some rather concrete evidence that says as much."

"I agree with that," the old man quickly agreed without hesitation. "The defense will refrain from needlessly passing the time with questions during the cross-examination. If you do indeed have evidence that substantiates your claim that the witness was at the lighthouse the moment the double-murders took place, then I'd rather you present it sooner than later. And if you really must ask something, then you best make sure it's of clear relevance. This'll be my only warning. Fail to comply and I will hold you in contempt of court!"

"Objection!" Vector quickly exclaimed. "Your Honor, how can you expect this trial to be properly conducted if such strict restrictions are placed during the cross-examination? I'm all for making sure things move at a steady pace, but I think that's going overboard!"

"Overruled, Prosecutor Vector. I'm sure you've noticed already, but I've been extremely patient and generous throughout this entire trial as the defense has brought before me a myriad of possibilities. I believe that some have also been brought about by your own hand. I don't think I need to remind you that a good portion of them have yet to be adequately proven. And out of the ones that have been properly backed up by the evidence, they seem rather negligible when placed into the bigger picture that is this trial.

"I'm starting to view all this as nothing more than a desperate attempt to keep this case open," the Judge continued on without bothering to mask his disappointment at how things were turning out. "Allow me to remind you that all this will be over with once the day comes to an end. Unless I see hard proof that one of the crucial possibilities can be a truth, I'm inclined to agree with Prosecutor Mephiles. Not only will I close this case for the final time the moment I notice that time is being wasted; I'll also hold either you or the defense in contempt of court depending on who chooses to further waste the court's time."

"Well, it's nice to see that the Judge has finally decided to crack down on all of this nonsense," the old hedgehog chuckled with a grin akin to that of a child who had just gotten his way. "I was beginning to wonder whether or not my concerns raised while being a witness were to be noticed. I really would like to see what it is the defense has up their sleeve with which they think they can place me at the lighthouse during the time the murders occurred. I'm willing to bet that they have nothing, but I'm more than happy to play along now that I know time isn't going to be needlessly wasted over petty questions."

"You arrogant little creep!" Sonic growled as he stared harsh daggers at Mephiles, both hands clenched into tight fists. Even Vector was doing the same thing, but the witness seemed completely unfazed by the dual barrage of anger and continued to sport his annoyingly conceited grin. "You really won't stop at nothing to make sure I'm not able to get any further with this trial. And you even managed to make it so that Vector will get into the same trouble as me if he continues to try and help me keep this case going. It's clear to me now that there's something you're intent on keeping hidden from us. I'm going to drag it out of you right here and now if it's the last thing I do!"

"Calm down, Sonic!" Tails harshly whispered while struggling to keep a calm demeanor himself. "Getting yourself angry over this isn't going to get you anywhere. You're just going to end up losing your concentration. You can't afford to let something like that happen right now, and that's what Mephiles is trying to pull over you. The moment you let him suck you into his psychological attacks, that's when you'll be playing his game and allow him to escape. You need to keep your head clear and think about what's the next thing you have to do. That's the only way you can beat him at his own game!"

Instead of answering, the cobalt hedgehog continued to stare at the bane of his life for a few more seconds before finally starting to relax. He took a few deep breaths and pinched the bridge of his nose in order to stymy a headache he felt coming along because of all this. At the same time, he was silently praying that he would be able to stick the proverbial axe into the old hedgehog's back during the upcoming cross-examination.

"I know you'll be able to pull through this!" the young fox encouraged the other while motioning towards Vector's direction. "Believe me when I say Vector is in the same boat as you. Both of you have been placed under tight restrictions because of Mephiles. You just need to figure out what the right question to ask is in order to get around this obstacle. I'll admit that there wasn't really anything worthwhile in the testimony for you to go all-out on, but you got to work with what you have if you want to get to the truth of things!"

"If that was supposed to be a pep talk, then you kind of did a bad job at it," the defense attorney stated with annoyed but thankful glance. "You weren't supposed to mention that his testimony sounded concrete enough that it can withstand scrutiny!"

"I only said that so as to remind you about the kind of man we're dealing with here. He wants us to think that there's no way to crack his supposedly concrete testimony. If we can find even the smallest crack in it, then we'll be able to send him falling so hard he won't have much of a chance to pick up the pieces!"

"If only it could be so easy to find said crack and successfully exploit it. I'm definitely going to have to think real hard about this while making sure I don't dig myself into an already deep hole. Here's to hoping that I manage to make it through this restriction and avoid letting it affect both my job and performance."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"How about we start off the cross-examination by trying to clear us some confusion?" Sonic began once he had composed himself enough to come up with the only question he felt was safe enough circumvent the tight restrictions. "You mentioned earlier during your testimony that it was your original intent to go to the lighthouse once the trial had been suspended. Instead, you decided to go somewhere else as per another's suggestion and ultimately managing to avoid the ensuing incident. Is that the claim you choose to stand by?"

"I do hope for your sake that this is an undoubtedly relevant question," Mephiles said while smoothly dodging the main question. "You'd best be prepared to explain yourself unless you want to put an end to your commendable yet idiotically tenacious efforts. And let's not forget about the fact that your career may be put into question thanks to a contemptuous mark that will become a permanent stain on your record. I'm sure that's the last thing you'd want to have against you at this moment of your budding career."

"If we're to go by what you've said, you never once made your presence in the area known that entire evening," the cobalt hedgehog explained as he tried to ignore the goading remarks. "You even went so far as to say that you had received a call which directed you to a different location. Being that this is the crux of your argument, do you have something that proves what you said to be the truth?"

"…As much as I hate to admit the fact that your question does hold some relevancy, I'm afraid the answer it'll provide isn't going to be of much help for you," the old hedgehog merely replied. "The cell phone that I received the call on has since been disconnected and disposed of. However, I will say that I remember it having come from a blocked number. While I have no idea who the caller was, it was clear that they had some knowledge about me and my personal business. As such, I felt it prudent to temporarily abandon my work at the lighthouse and check the validity of their words. You can feel free to take a look through my phone records from then if you'd like. I guarantee you that it'll only serve to back up my claim."

"Was the phone you were called from your personal one or another that was meant for company business?" Tails asked as he tried to help Sonic keep the question going as long as possible. In essence, they both felt that it was the only safe question they could ask and prove further into without running the risk of the Judge placing them in contempt of court. "I would assume that you had two on you at the time so as to keep both your professional and business calls organized. If I'm right on my assumption, then the phone you disposed of would've been your company cell phone."

"It's true that I had two phones on me at the time. The one I got the call on then was the one assigned for company use. However, I fail to see just how this is has any relations to the trial. I believe that both sides of the courtroom has been put under a restriction that prevented the asking of any baseless question. You happen to be working with the defense as his assistant, so you are also under the same restrictions. It appears to me that you have no regards for being labeled a contemptuous party in this case."

"If you'll listen to my explanation, then I'm sure you'll see just how good of a reason I have to continue on with this question," the young fox stated in a confident tone. "You see, you claimed to have received the call from a cell phone that was registered under the Prycey Seafood Company. I believe it only fair to assume that the business would then have records of all calls made and received from any phones under its name. With that in mind, I find it safe to say that there must be phone records under the company's name that are available to for us to look over. And I'll even go so far as to say that those records were kept somewhere on company property and are probably still there at this very moment!

"If that's the case, then we can have one of the detectives go and retrieve the documents and see if what you've been claiming is the truth. And while we're waiting, we'll have someone else get ahold of the transcripts from the trial five years ago. Once we have both of them in our possession, we'll then compare the ending time of that trial with the time you allegedly received the call. If they end up correlating with each other, then we'll concede that it was highly possible for you to have been somewhere other than the lighthouse that night."

Clearly surprised at how things were turning out, Mephiles looked at the defensive team with confusion clear in his eyes. It was as though he was trying to figure out how it was the young attorney managed to continually avoid contemptuous actions while coming up with rather interesting and case-worthy questions. It was clear by his stoically confused look that he was not liking how the trial was being allowed to continue on.

"I'm ready to admit that the defense's question does have good relations to the case and is based on details we're able to easily verify," Vector admitted as he finally recovered from having been played a fool by the old hedgehog's earlier psychological attack. "I think even you would find it hard to place any kind of flaw with it, witness. So how about it? Are there any phone records in one of the company's old buildings?"

"…The records are in fact being housed in the company's old warehouse," the witness admitted. "Like I mentioned earlier, the company's name is still being used in the shipment of seafood. As such, the building is currently left abandoned but still kept on the roster in case it can be used for storing surplus goods. It's yet to have been able to play that role, but the current owners love to plan ahead for all possible scenarios. However, I'm afraid knowing the records exist isn't going to serve much help for you."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" the crocodile asked as he tried to help keep the old hedgehog from further evading the question. "Any information we can procure for a case is always useful. Do you mind explaining to us how you can you be so sure that such important information doesn't really hold much importance?"

"…I find it interesting how the two of you have somehow managed to find some way to temporarily circumvent the restrictions placed upon this cross-examination. I must admit that I'm quite impressed you managed to get this far while being restricted to asking only pertinent questions. Unfortunately, your circumvention techniques will only get you so far before the consequences catch up with you."

"That's something we could currently care less about, Prosecutor Mephiles!" Sonic exclaimed before slamming his hands on his desk in frustration. "As far as I'm concerned, both my partner and I along with Prosecutor Vector have brought to you a question that's well within clear relative relations to this case. Trying to hide behind the restriction you managed to enact won't work this time around!

"You used a phone that has on record a time you claimed to have been called away from the lighthouse," he quickly addressed the matter before anyone could interrupt him. "This is the only defense you presented to us as to why you have no relations with this case. If you are going to continue saying you were never at the scene of the murders, then the best thing you can do for yourself is answer Prosecutor Vector's question. Saying at this point that it won't help us in any way will only serve to hurt you in the long run. I suggest then that you cooperate if you want to keep your claim of innocence in good standing."

"…I must admit that the defense has raised a good point," the Judge agreed after having weighed the validity of the passionate argument. "The question asked does fall well within the restriction's boundaries. As such, I would like for you to explain yourself as to why you made the comment regarding the phone records."

For a moment, Mephiles merely looked at both the defense and prosecution. As of now, his plan to get either one tagged with contempt of court failed. Regardless, he did not look in any way worried about it. In fact, he slowly began sporting his trademark smug smile as though he had something else in mind. This immediately caught Sonic's attention and caused him to worry about what was in store for them next.

"I suppose there isn't any harm in providing you all some clarification in regards to what I said," he merely replied. "At least I'm happy to know all this wasn't a product of an unrelated question the defense wanted to attack me with. Just make sure you're all paying attention as I'm only going to explain this to you all once."

"As if we weren't already planning on paying attention," Sonic grumbled to himself as he prepared himself for the cunning prosecutor's new statement. "Just make sure you're not saying something so confusing that we have to play another guessing game. I have no idea how much more I can take of that kind of torture."

_**New Statement**_

With the company now defunct, I don't even have access to the only warehouse that's been left abandoned after the shutdown!

_**End New Statement**_

"So despite the fact that the company is still in existence even if only through its name, you don't have any control over the logistics and business aspects of it?" Tails asked after listening to the explanation that seemed acceptable yet still failed to appear conclusive. "You don't even have a say as to what kind of products will be shipped and advertised under the company name? I figured that you'd still have some level of control after having been forced to assimilate the business while in a high position."

"Unfortunately for me, one of the conditions discussed during the closing hearing was that I relinquish my current role to another of their choosing," Mephiles stated with a sigh that sounded like it was merely for show. "Apart from whatever minute tasks the new owners chose to impart onto me, I no longer had any kind of influence with the company. As such, I was forced to allow them full reign with all the decisions. Even as of now in the ruling company's eyes, I'm nothing more than a dispensable employee who's been forced to assimilate into their business. I find it embarrassing that I've been brought down to a mere subordinate role, but that's the reality I must face."

"It's surprising to be hearing a man such as you actually continue to work in a condition that managed to make you feel embarrassed," Vector stoically replied after silently observing the new statement and response. "I had thought that you would immediately quit once you realized that the new owners saw it fit to knock you down from the chain of command. After all, you are a man who prides himself in being the one with the most access to power regardless of the situation. At the least, I figured you would've tried to discuss some new terms in order to land yourself a higher position with the new business."

"Do you really think I didn't try to negotiate with them?" the old hedgehog asked with a huff. "Once I bargained with them, they were gracious enough to grant me a position in their management team. However, it was provided that I work with them as a record keeper for a minimum of five years. It definitely was a step up from being told to start as a mere cargo manager whose position doesn't grant much audience with the higher-ups.

"The opportunity was too good for me to pass up, so I accepted their terms," he merely added. "As of now, I'm still waiting to become a part of their managerial staff. I'll admit that I prefer to be the one in power, but running a company has too many variables that need to be accounted for. A good portion of them are simply impossible to predict or control.

"Regardless, the murders that took place at the lighthouse five years ago was one such unpredictable variable. With such a heavy cloud over the business because of it, the only thing that I could do to bring it out from there was to shut it down and give it new life by selling it to a potential buyer. And because of that, I no longer have access to any of the buildings that were once under my ownership. Whatever records are held in them must be brought up to the current owners if you truly wish to look them over."

"But all of them should still be placed under your name!" Sonic countered as he tried to find some way to quickly get those phone records before the day was over. "The records were drafted five years ago; they must've been billed under the company name which then listed you as its owner. Wouldn't that then mean you have the right to those papers regardless of who owns the space it currently inhabits?"

"It may be true that I can claim ownership over those papers, but the same can't be said with the abandoned warehouse it's currently housed in. I need permission in order to access the building before I can enter and start taking whatever it is I claim to be rightfully mines. I don't think anything short of a search warrant will allow you to enter the old warehouse and go rifling around for those records."

"Unfortunately, it takes a while for a search warrant to be drafted and delivered to the police," the crocodile said with a frown. "I doubt we'd be able to have an official order ready until tomorrow at the earliest. And being that today is the last for this case, those phone records can only be considered useless at this time. As such…, the defense can no longer pursue this line of questioning as it has now been deemed irrelevant by this fact."

"That does appear to be the case," the Judge merely agreed after listening to all of the facts. "Mr. Sonic, I'll grant you some leeway and withhold the penalty on irrelevancies since you had no way of knowing the witness no longer had access to his old company's warehouse. However, that also goes to say that you appear to have run out of any more relevant questions that can be asked. Without being able to access those records today, I can't see how you'll be able to prove or disprove Prosecutor Mephiles's claim of having not been at the lighthouse. As such, you can't possibly continue on with the trial."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"But what if I can prove to you that we actually have the ability to view those records today?" Sonic asked in a tone that indicated he already had the answer. "If that's the only thing that's keeping us from further advancing into this trial, then all that needs to be done is show that we do have the ability to see those reports as early as today!"

"Ha, that's a pretty strong bluff coming from somebody who hardly has anything to be dragging me into this with!" Mephiles scoffed without as much as bothering to conceal the bit of laughter that had escaped. "Don't forget that evidence is the sole ultimate power in a court of law. Nothing short of that will lend credence to your words."

"Thankfully for us, Interpol Agent Salem mentioned something interesting to me during the recess some time ago," the cobalt hedgehog stated as he pulled out the recorded information regarding the Prycey Seafood Company's Warehouse Keypad. "He said that he and his fellow agents have been keeping tabs on the lighthouse and anything affiliated with it for the past five years. This would also naturally include the abandoned warehouse. As such, he noticed that it requires a password before entrance is allowed. The company responsible for supplying building with such security still continues to provide service."

"That would be expected considering how the business controlling the Prycey Seafood Business would like to protect its assets despite whether or not in use," Vector replied, his eyes reflecting his intrigue and confusion as to what was being brought up. "I'm sure they would prefer that the building not be made available to people who might wish to use it for illegal purposes. However, how does this revelation have anything to do with allowing us to retrieve the phone records today?"

"Well, it's clear by Prosecutor Mephiles's testimony that the records are most likely in that warehouse. The only thing keeping us from going in there to check it out is that we don't have any means for immediate access. However, Salem mentioned that the people at Interpol ran a check on who was being supplied the new passwords. Oddly enough, the only name they could come up with was the person standing before us testifying!"

"Are you saying that the witness lied about the overall level of authority he has over the warehouse?" the crocodile asked, his eyes widening in shock at the potentially blatant lie that had just been unearthed. "Did Interpol Agent Salem really say something like that to you during the recess earlier?"

"I promise you that what we're claiming is the truth," Tails confirmed with a firm nod. "And if you still don't believe us, then you can simply call on Salem to testify about that specific detail. I'm sure you'll only hear what we just claimed.

"With that said, we have adequately proven that Mephiles lied about the amount of power he actually asserts with regards to the warehouse," the young fox concluded. "As such, he has total access with the building and can thus provide us with the means to enter and search the place for those phone records!"

"…Are you sure that I made falsehoods in regards to the warehouse?" the old hedgehog simply asked as the gallery began to talk amongst themselves. "I'm afraid that I honestly don't have any true access to that building. I'm currently nothing more than a record keeper who hardly has any right to be so randomly approaching unauthorized territory."

"Then how do you explain the fact that your name was the only one Interpol came up with when they did a search on the passwords?" Sonic asked in an attempt to keep the revelation from being shot down. "That makes it seem like you have more right than any to be randomly going there."

"Like Prosecutor Vector had already explained, the current company decided to keep the system running for the sake of their convenience. There have been few instances where they had to use the warehouse to hold extra products, and I was to make sure that the correct monetary amount of goods were stored there. It would be bad if the amount going in were different than the amount that actually made it in.

"As such, I find it only natural that I would have access to the passwords. It was already like that when it was still just the Prycey Seafood Company; the current owners felt it best to keep it at the same arrangement once they had me working as the records keeper. So unless there were surplus goods, I have no reason nor reasonable access lest I wanted to be fired for being where I shouldn't have been."

"Regardless, the fact still stands that you currently have the passwords that allow you free access to the warehouse," the cobalt hedgehog said. "As such, we don't need to give the current owners a subpoena in order to search the building. We can simply ask you for the codes and still be allowed lawful access as you are currently considered connected to this case. Now how about you give us the password so we can search the place today? I'm sure the last thing you want is to be arrested for obstruction of justice simply because you refused."

"But if we were to go along with your plan, then we'll have to call in another recess," the Judge spoke up after carefully listening to the exchange. "To be perfectly honest, I'm rather apprehensive at the idea of further prolonging this trial. This has gone on much longer than anybody ever anticipated, and I'm not envious of having this continue on into the evening until midnight comes around."

"I hardly see any merit in wanting to search a building that doesn't even present a single connection in relations to the double-murders," Mephiles added as he nodded in agreement to the old man's words. "All the defense wants is proof as to whether or not I'm telling the truth about having received a call from a blocked number five years ago. Not only is it completely trivial; it also has nothing to do with me of possibly being the murderer!"

"I object to that!" Vector exclaimed while gripping at his gold chain. "It may seem like nothing more than a triviality to you, but I assure you that this phone call is of great importance. If you truly want us to believe that you are being truthful about the actions you made that day, then the phone records that have been kept inside the warehouse serve as your only means of obtaining it. And since you were so clear earlier that those papers could only be there, I don't see why you suddenly want to discredit the need to go there and obtain the only thing that can validate your actions five years ago."

"My only reason for being against this is because this doesn't have any bearing on the defense's ultimate goal of trying to prove me being a potential suspect," the old hedgehog simply responded. "If they wanted to do that, then they should be busying themselves looking for evidence saying that I really was at the lighthouse that night. All they're chasing after is proof that shows I was _never there_! For all intents and purposes, that seems rather counter-intuitive for what they're trying to accomplish."

"Even so, I feel that it's worth the time to call a recess and allow the police adequate time to search the building," the crocodile countered as he tried his best to convince the Judge to see things his way. "It may seem like another attempt to stall for time, but I can assure you that this is merely a chance to garner some much needed information regarding the witness. And just to add my two cents into this situation, I also have some concerns about the warehouse apart from the phone records that I would love to have cleared up through the recess."

For a few moments, the entire courtroom was quiet. The Judge looked like he was actually contemplating the thought of calling another recess; both the defense and prosecution looked at each other with supportiveness masked behind stoic glances; and the witness merely stood and waited for what was to happen next. Even the members of the gallery were sitting on the edge of their seats in anticipation for what was to come.

"… … …I suppose I don't have much of a choice in the matter," the old man finally replied with a sigh. "I'll go ahead and call for a one-hour recess. I'm sure the police are currently wrapping up their investigation on the Mobius Harbor, so it shouldn't take them too long to get to the warehouse and search it.

"However, I will say that this is the last recess I'll be calling," he quickly warned. "As I mentioned earlier, I don't want this trial to be moving onto the evening hours. So if there's any pieces of evidence or other important things you need to take care of, you best do so in the next hour. When we reconvene, I will not have the trial be further postponed for anything regardless of how relevant it might be. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly, Your Honor," the young prosecutor acknowledged with a nod.

"We understand, Your Honor," Sonic said with a sigh while Tails merely gave a curt nod in acknowledgement.

"Then I'll allow the final recess to be called! I do hope for both the defense and prosecution's sake that they have everything in order when we reconvene in an hour. And Prosecutor Mephiles, please don't leave the courtroom as we might still have need for you to testify about the case."

"As you wish, Your Honor," Mephiles stated just as the gavel echoed throughout the courtroom. Almost immediately, the old hedgehog turned around and made his way out to wherever it was he wanted to go in the courthouse.

"I really hope we find something of use in that warehouse," the cobalt hedgehog murmured as he collected his evidence and prepared to take a break. "Even if those phone records do exist and prove Mephiles's claim about receiving an anonymous call to be true; we might be able to see something else that we can use against him!"

"Let's just hope the police will be able to uncover anything from that abandoned warehouse," the young fox merely replied with a sigh. "It was owned by the Prycey Seafood Company five years ago, and it's the only place that's of reasonable suspicion. If we find nothing there, then I honestly can't see any other way for us to continue on."

"Then let's hope that Vector knows what he's doing with whatever it is he's curious about with the place."

No sooner had the defense attorney said those words, Vector had made his way out of the courtroom with his cell phone in hand. He was clearly not wasting any time going after what it was he was searching for and was intent on using every single minute the hour had. The two quickly followed him out and made their way into the defendant lobby in order to take the last break they were ever going to have during this trial.

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><p>... ... ...Yep, Prosecutor Mephiles is quite possibly the worst person ever on the planet to ask to testify about anything as a witness. He's way too careful with what he says and manages to find those ever small loopholes in logic to escape from being cornered. You probably have no idea how hard it was for me to write this particular chapter. And now I'm personally worried about how the next chapter is going to be written out.<p>

With every word I write in the story, I actually fear that I've made him too careful of a person that there's going to be no flaw. Still, I'm not going to change that. What good is writing if you can't deliver yourself personal challenges every now and then? For me, trying to find a way to crack through this carefully crafted barrier and strike Mephiles down with something completely damning will be a rewarding feeling. That and I truly hate Mephiles right now for the way he became portrayed in my mind for this case. He's definitely going down hard next chance I get!

But yeah, I think I subconsciously made him this way after having watched the final case of Ace Attorney Investigations 2, courtesy of **dowolf**. The final suspect in the game was also a rather smart and careful man and could easily psych Edgeworth out in an attempt to steer him down the wrong path. Without knowing it, I modeled this particular cross-examination scene along the same guidelines. It wasn't until I was starting to write down the second piece of testimony did I realize what I done. I decided to keep it in since it made the whole chapter just that much more epic. Hope you all agree with that!

Please don't forget to leave a review before moving onto the next story that you want to read. For those of you who read my rant about what I feel reviews should be at the beginning of this chapter, then you know how I feel. If not, then I suggest you read it. As a budding fiction writer, I feel that reviews should be more than just simple and meaningless one-liners that honestly serve as nothing more than a waste of space.

With that said, until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here! And let me say that the possibility of this entire case and story being wrapped up in the next chapter is pretty high. If not, then be prepared for another wild ride with crazily dodgy Mephiles as your guide to everlasting insanity.


	35. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 8

Hello everybody! Here's the next chapter to this ever so wonderful story that I'm sure you're all enjoying up to this point. Let me first start off by saying that I unintentionally lied in my last author's note when I said that this was going to be the last chapter. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't skip the entire one hour recess as it would have been too big of a time jump. That and there was too much new evidence that popped into my mind that couldn't possibly be introduced with the span of the trial. As such, this is the chapter before the finale.

On that note, allow me to warn you all that the next chapter will undoubtedly be the quite long. In fact, I wouldn't go on a stretch to say that it might be the longest ever for this particular story. Just something to watch out for when it pops up. That and it will serve as an adequate explanation for why the chapter will take longer to be published for those of you who might end up wondering what's taking so long.

That and it's currently midterm season for college right now. I need to really concentrate on that if I hope on getting good grades and raising my GPA even higher. I've already managed to dodge a bullet two quarters ago and get myself out of Academic Probation; I would like to keep it that way and stay as far from that danger zone as I possibly can! ** Seriously, consider this my service message to those of you in college or planning to go to college. Never put yourself in a position like that where you start stressing out. It makes things very stressful in terms of studying your butt off and making sure you get nothing but good grades from that point forward.**

But still, the grand moment when Mephiles will finally be taken down is upon us! Naturally, it's going to be one crazy ride filled with big bumps and potentially bigger objections from the prosecutor-turned-witness. After all, who in their right mind would so willingly submit to otherwise bizarre claims of being a murderer without so much as a fight?

And just as a little note to **werewolflover99**; who I believe to be right or wrong during the cross-examinations isn't important. That's something that you should be asking yourselves. As the one who's writing this mystery story, I would naturally already have a certain bias as to who's right and wrong. After all, I need to know that much if I plan on putting an end to this story! But yeah, thanks for your review and tell me who **_you_ **think is right and wrong at this point of the story!

So that's it for this particular introductory author's note. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story on this site that you feel like reading. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here!

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><p><strong>E<strong>vidence:<strong>**

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Docks. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice, the second happening during Shadow's case. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that it was also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Picture: A photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had initially received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and smiling brightly at the camera. Amazingly, his entire demeanor appears almost child-like despite his rather strong and toned body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. Just before the trial began, it was discovered that both the paper and digital forms were destroyed. Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails that detail what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career in order to watch over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room with cell phone in hand after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails that depict what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by a single mastermind. It also appears that this person is involved in the smuggling ring Interpol is investigating.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place at the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business known as the "Prycey Seafood Company". It was owned by three people and had employed one person to work on cargo duty; two of the owners were Lois and Maxwell Pryce with only a lesser percentage of the business to their name. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it was forced closed upon being in the spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witnesses found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood Company at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 Incident. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head from a rounded blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he was in a fight prior to dying. The murder weapon has never been recovered.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at a distance and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after killing Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago through ballistic testing that it was fired from the Pistol that was used once again on Prosecutor Flora Mae. According to the trajectory report, it was fired from a position directly parallel to the hallway.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as the "Prycey Seafood Company". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf located on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office. She then went back to the bookshelf where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, a fact that none of them were able to properly explain. As such, their statements were considered useless and shuffled away.

Leon's Statement: Testimony regarding the moments leading up to Leon's kidnapping. He entered the old Prycey Seafood Warehouse and went to the office in an attempt to collect more information with regards to either the smuggling ring or their person of interest. Before he could perform a thorough search, he was soon attacked and imprisoned in the office before the Chaotix Detective Agency found and rescued him. He mentioned that the room looked as though it had been rifled through when he came to.

Warehouse Keypad: A sophisticated password system for the door to the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. According to Salem, the security company in charge of the password is still supplying service to the building. However, the bi-annual password change is sent to only one person. It's suspected that Mephiles is the one with access to the new passwords.

Salem's Testimony: Testimony recorded during Salem's court appearance. He testified to working overtime at the warehouse from midnight until one. He made it clear that nobody left the lighthouse the moment he went out to take a look after hearing gunshots. All four employees, including himself, were scattered about the Prycey Seafood Business grounds when the police had arrived. Charles was still alive when he first approached him. He also mentioned that Maria and Charles had knowledge of the smuggling ring and believed through their last case's client that the company had ties to the ring.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident. However, he knows next to nothing about the case and must learn as much as he can during the course of the trial. He wishes to try and solve the case despite the fact that expert investigators over the past five years have failed to do so.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails". Ever since proving himself to be an above average investigator during the precinct murder, he has been hired by Dr. Robotnik to be the law firm's local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct. Despite having nothing to add on the case, he's decided to watch the proceedings in the gallery. He delivered the LK-9 evidence to Vector after learning that someone had managed to destroy both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: An Interpol Agent who has decided to reveal his true identity in court in order to be granted immunity from the charges of tampering with the scene of a crime and removal of evidence. He was working undercover in the Prycey Seafood Company at the time the double-murders happened. His real name is actually "Salem".

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen. He has been cleared of murder thanks to Sonic and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident. He's prepared to be pinned as a murderer due to his fingerprints being on the Pistol that killed Maria.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident. Everything he knows about the case is through the many reports that have been documented over the past five years.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct. For unknown reasons, he has chosen to refuse to preside over the LK-9 trial.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor and help as much as he can to keep the trial going and uncover the truth behind it all.

Leukis Kruger: Salem's younger brother who's afflicted with the rare genetic disorder, Feralisis Syndrome. He also happens to be with Interpol. According to Salem, they were reunited after Leukis had managed to successfully shake off members of the smuggling ring who figured out his true identity and wanted him dead. His real name is "Leon".

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Sonic decided to pursue a career as a defense attorney.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Shadow decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor.

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness.

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><p><strong>Chapter 35: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 8<strong>

"I don't know how much longer I can take this!" Sonic groaned as he sat back on one of the lobby seats. His nose was stuck in his file of collected evidence as he tried to figure out how to best use each piece to expose the truth that has been hidden for the past five years. He then said as he stole a glance at a nearby clock, "I think we've been in this courthouse for almost five hours. Four of those hours have been spent trying to get to the bottom of this cold case. It's like things only keep getting harder the closer we get to uncovering the truth of what really happened all those years ago."

"Not to mention that Prosecutor Mephiles doesn't seem willing to make the process any easier on us," Tails added as before taking a sip of water. "I suppose him being a veteran of the law has granted him some advantages while testifying as a witness. For one, he always seems to manage to find even the smallest of loopholes to render any of our arguments against him close to invalid. None of the witnesses we've went against were ever that sharp to simply brush away our arguments. It was only because of Vector's quick thinking during both cross-examinations did we manage to make any of our claims barely squeeze by."

"At least we can't complain about him not being on our side with this," the hedgehog admitted while letting out a tired sigh. "Still, even he had to point out every single small thing that had been left untouched so as to keep the trial going. I wouldn't be surprised if Mephiles is right now using this time to come up with more ways to counter whatever possible questions we might ask of him. We need to find some way to ultimately prove that he was at the lighthouse at the time the murders took place before this trial's over!"

"I'm honestly quite surprised that the two of you were even able to get him to stay on the witness stand for as long as you have," Shadow's voice passively added. Both occupants turned their attention towards the doorway where the cobalt hedgehog had just entered from, his arms crossed tightly as though he were in thought. "The fact that you were barely able to substantiate Salem's claim with hardly any evidence is an amazing feat in and of itself. And you were able to get away with it against the most ruthless of prosecutors, no less!"

"Oh, please don't remind me about that headache of a moment, Shadow!" the defense attorney groaned even louder than before. "I just want this one-hour recess to myself so I can relax and prepare myself for another torturous moment of infuriating cross-examination. God only knows what that old hedgehog might try to do to drive me crazy."

"Allow me to suggest something before you get too relaxed," the ebon hedgehog quickly stated as he fiddled with the edges of his gloves. "If you're truly planning on pursuing Salem's claim that Mephiles is the smuggling ring leader and inadvertently the perpetrator of the LK-9 Incident, then you best review all the evidence you have. From what I've seen earlier, what little evidence you managed to produce barely even caused a dent in his defenses. If you continue on like this, you'll never get to the truth of things."

"I admit that our attacks are shabby at best when used against an expert of the law such as him," the fox agreed before pouring himself another cup of water. "If anything, he seems more ruthless as a witness than when we first went against him as our previous case's prosecutor. I might be wrong about this, but I feel like he can better anticipate our attacks while he's in his current position. Even while I was just asking him simple questions so as to get him to testify, he kept brushing off everything I said as if they were insignificant!"

"All the more reason why I say you should spend make use of this recess looking over all the evidence you have. However, I can't say I'm quite comfortable with saying that all you've amassed thus far will be adequate enough to prove your position. And before you say anything, I've made it a point to shuffle away all the evidence and key points in my head."

"Are you simply telling us that or trying to find a way to show off your mad memory skills? How about using those amazing brain powers to help a fellow attorney out with trying to figure out what his next move should be?"

Instead of answering, Shadow merely took a seat next to Sonic with his arms still crossed in a thoughtful manner. The fact that he was not coming back with some kind of retort meant that even he was stumped as to what they should do next.

"…Well, why don't we think about it this way?" Tails suggested as he broke the silence. "The Judge called a recess when Sonic and I stated that there was a possibility of the phone records being kept in the abandoned warehouse. Even if they do end up proving that Mephiles was telling the truth about having received a call after his trial ended, there must be something else on it we can use."

"That's only provided that we can see the numbers on the records," Shadow pointed out. "If the phone is filled with nothing but blocked numbers, then we can't use any of it. And we can't delve into the conversation history as the only way to do that is to have previously tapped into the phone prior."

"Then we'll just forget about that and think about some other way to attack him," Sonic thought out loud. "What should probably be of more concern is who would actually condone accepting nothing but blocked numbers on their cell. Of course, that's only considering if that's really the case here. Especially since this is the company cell phone we're concerned about, I can't see how it's reasonable for Mephiles to not be able to identify who was calling him before deciding whether or not to answer."

"Guess who's here!" a childishly loud voice suddenly cut into their conversation as the door slammed open. Not even a second later, Charmy came flying into the room with his hands holding tightly onto a small black bag. Leon came walking in soon after with nothing short of an amused look on his face. "Charmy's here to save the day!"

"…Nice to know some of us appear to be unfazed by today's proceedings," the ebon hedgehog deadpanned while the other two looked surprised at the sudden entrance. He also nodded towards the surprised bailiff for him to stand down as he seemed ready to draw his weapon at the sudden intrusion. "How many times have I've talked to you about entering in a quiet and orderly fashion? I'm surprised none of the officers decided to have you arrested for disorderly conduct."

"Well, you can't really blame the little guy for being all excited," Leon said as the bee dropped the bag onto the table with a huff. "After all, we did just finish processing all of the new evidence we managed to uncover for you guys."

"You guy's actually found some new evidence?_!_" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he all but leapt to his feet. Even Tails was excited at this revelation but managed to keep himself from jumping in excitement. "Where did you find them?"

"In the old warehouse where everybody seems to have an interest in right now," the bee explained while the others began rifling through the bag's contents. "Vector suggested that I give the place a good look-through after we found Leon. He figured that there might be something he could use for a potential kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment case. I don't know if it'll help him on that, but he called me just before I got here telling me to show what I found to you guys first."

"If he already had you two conducting a search of the warehouse, then why did he ask the Judge for a recess in order to conduct another one?" Tails wondered as he pulled out a file and began perusing it. "It sounds like nothing but a waste of time."

"I think it was more along the lines that he was trying to buy Charmy more time to get here with his findings," the young prosecutor suggested as he simply looked at the defensive team going through the new evidence. "That and he probably wanted it to be officially introduced to the police as a potential scene of interest.

"However, I don't think any of this matters at this point," he abruptly changed topics. "What matters now is that there's new evidence to be accounted for. So how about you fill me in on the details about what was found?"

"…It looks like nothing more than a bunch of reports and pictures," the fox concluded after scanning the contents. "Do any of these have anything to do with phone records of any kind? That's what Vector based his recess on."

"We didn't find anything like that in there," the albino lion answered as he shook his head. "Everything we found there is in that bag and analyzed to the point where even the smallest of details were uncovered."

"Do you mind if I asked what you're even doing here, Leon?" Sonic asked as he took the file Tails handed him and looked through it himself. "I didn't think that you were going to be helping out the Chaotix Detective Agency with this."

"Well, I figured it'd be nice to help after all they've done for me. That and I think they're right now pretty shorthanded after having one of their members be convicted as a murderer and a potential member of the smuggling ring. That and I figured I could help speed the analyzing process along by enlisting the help of one of Interpol's specialized forensics labs stationed in this city. Compared to our technology, the local police department can be pretty slow in analyzing things and might not have been done until tomorrow.

"But yeah, shouldn't you guys be busy studying the evidence instead of talking to me?" he quickly changed topics. "I don't know how long this recess is supposed to be, but I think Charmy needs to bring this stuff to Vector so he can look through it."

"You do have a point there," the cobalt hedgehog replied before finally concentrating on trying to study what had been placed before him.

The file he was currently skimming through was a Print Report that documented all the prints that were lifted from the scene. Only two fresh prints were discovered. Some of them were paw prints that no doubt belonged to Leon from when he was trapped there. A second set of prints, this time regular hand prints, was also discovered but were unidentifiable due to the owner having worn gloves at the time. It also made mention that the room was relatively dusty and made locating the prints much easier.

"At least this is proof that Leon was telling the truth about where he had been trapped for the past couple of days," he thought out loud before turning his attention to Charmy. "Are you sure there's no way to identify who's the owner of the second set of prints? Since the report says that the room was dusty, there's a good chance that they belong to the person who assaulted our Interpol Agent friend."

"If gloves could still leave readable fingerprints, then what's the point in even wearing them?" the bee deadpanned. "I may be younger than Tails and know less than him, but even I know you can't get anything from gloved prints. The only thing we could conclude was that those were the only two fresh prints located at the scene."

"Here's a diagram of the office with markings indicating where the gloved prints were located," Tails said as he picked up and unfolded a piece of paper that fell out of the folder. "It looks like our gloved friend touched only a couple of drawers and the room's safe. Everything else doesn't look like it had been disturbed."

"So whoever was rummaging through that office knew what they were looking for and where they were kept," Shadow concluded as he moved into a position so he could look over Tails's shoulder. "I suppose that then limits the potential suspects down to those who have known affiliations with this warehouse."

"Fortunately for us, Mephiles falls into that wonderfully small list since he's the only one with the passwords to get into the warehouse," Sonic said, his voice giving away the hopefulness he was feeling. "He should know where most everything is seeing as how he pretty much owned the building before and now has limited access. Like Shadow already said, he'd only have to go to where he needs to go and ignore everything else.

"Still, I don't see how we're going to be able to use it against him if we don't have the necessary evidence to back up the claim," he added in a dejected tone. "He'd probably come up with some kind of convenient excuse like he told his boss the codes. Unless we're able to throw something concrete against him, I don't think we can find some way to make this work. Does the Warehouse Office Diagram show anything else?"

"Well, there were a couple of spots on the floor that were oddly devoid of any dust," the fox continued on with his interpretation of the diagram. "One of them was right in front of the desk and had some white fur over it. Once they were analyzed, it was shown to belong to Leon. I would assume that he spent most of his time in that area during his captivity since the spot held the most concentration of white fur."

"Actually, my attacker initially threw me there," Leon corrected while subconsciously wincing at the memory. "I was knocked out because of it and found myself locked in when I came to. Hoping that I would be found soon, I chose to sleep in that same spot so as to preserve the evidence and keep from contaminating the scene. Apart from my prints on the floor, I didn't touch anything in that room."

"And what about the second clean spot, Tails?" the ebon hedgehog asked. "Did they find anything on or around that area?"

"According to this, there were traces of blood on the second clean spot. I think it safe to assume there's a report on it that we haven't taken out of the bag yet."

"Got it!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he shot his hand into said bag and pulled out the last document in it. "This is a report on the Blood Analysis. It says that the blood existed only recently. After running tests on it, the results…were inconclusive due to the existence of bleach in the blood's composition."

"And I promise you all that it's not my blood," the albino lion spoke up before anybody else could comment. "Apart from the bruises I got, I didn't have any open wounds. However, I do remember having scratched my attacker and drawing blood from him before getting knocked out. Forensics is still running tests on the blood found on my nails and seeing if it shows any signs of matching with the stain found in the office. Unfortunately, they don't feel confident in being able to procure anything near an adequate match."

"So the blood from your nails are the only unmarred samples from whoever attacked you and ransacked that office," Tails concluded. "At least we have a clean sample to use for when the occasion comes around that we need to use it. Still, we need to prove more likely than not that the owner of the blood was in there at that moment. We can't say that it was Mephiles right now since we don't have any evidence."

"In other words, everything you guys found in that warehouse doesn't really add much to our position!" the defense attorney growled in frustration. "At the least, all the evidence is good for is to make a case regarding Leon's assault and unlawful imprisonment."

"But Vector told me to search the place because he thought it had something to do with the LK-9 Incident," Charmy spoke up as he explained the detective agency's initial reasoning for searching the building. "He didn't say anything about phone records at the time, but isn't all this enough to show that the scary man went there to get them?"

"The only thing all of this proves is that this act of thievery was conducted on a rather professional level," Leon explained as he made himself comfortable on the floor. "Apart from that, the evidence found at the warehouse doesn't explicitly say that Mephiles is the one who's responsible. And don't think about asking me to testify about what I saw during my encounter with my assaulter. I couldn't see either their face or any hints of fur on their body as the person wore a mask and was heavily clothed. I still don't know how I managed to draw blood under those conditions, but that's the only clue we have now as to their identity.

"However, it's my expert opinion as an Interpol Agent that he's the one responsible for knocking me out and taking whatever was in that office," he added as he seemed to be recalling what Interpol had figured out. "I think Salem already told you guys while he was testifying earlier that we've suspected him of being the leader of a smuggling ring for a few years now. His suspicious actions had him pegged as our number one suspect, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was something damning on those records that he had to have them taken care of. He clearly has a penchant for being extremely cautious and takes care to make sure nothing points back to him. As such, all we have against him are our suspicions as he either erases or cleverly covers up any evidence to the point that even the best of us can't even see it. This goes to show what kind of man you're going up against, a man so cold and calculating that he seems to be poking fun at the authorities at every chance he gets."

"I think you should replace that last part with trying to perform damage control," Salem suddenly cut into the conversation. Everyone turned their attention towards the doorway and saw him leaning against the doorway with his hands in his jacket pockets. "The fact that Sonic and Tails even managed to get him on the stand and testify must be sending him into a panic as to whether or not he's managed to close every path that leads to him as being the culprit."

"How'd the examination of the evidence we gave you went, Salem?" Sonic immediately asked with little to no surprise at the elder agent's sudden appearance. "I kind of hate to admit it, but I'm pretty much starving for some good evidence. Your brother teamed up with the Chaotix Detective Agency and managed to dig some new things up for us, but I can't say I'll be able to make much use of them."

"Did he now?" the black cat responded before raising an interested eyebrow at his little brother. "And why did you go out of your way to do that, Leon? I think I remember the doctors telling me to make sure that you took it easy after having just escaped captivity and recovering from the wounds you incurred during it."

"They were only minor at best!" the lion snapped back with a pout. "It's not like I was suffering from broken bones or anything else like that. Stop treating me like I'm some fragile little kid who can't hold his own every now and then.

"And besides, I can't just sit back when this could possibly be the biggest break we'll ever get in the smuggling case. You know just as well as me that this might be the only time Mephiles will ever testify as an actual witness in a courtroom. We can't really bring him in for questioning since we don't have any proof against him. However, if these guys are able to pull it off and tag him as the murderer from five years ago, then we'll have a right to interrogate him even if we have the flimsiest of evidence. He'll no longer have the same rights as a free man, so he'd have no choice but to at least submit to our request for an interrogation."

"Still, I'd rather that you didn't take any risks while your body's in a compromised state. It's good that you were able evidence, but think about what could've happened if you were to be taken by surprise again. And regardless whether or not he works for Vector, it doesn't make me feel any better that you were accompanied by a child during the entire investigation.

"But that's beside the point right now," he continued on despite the scowls he received from both his brother and Charmy. He then took a small bag that was hidden out in the hallway into his hands and officially entered the room. Sticking out from the top was the familiar design of the Ornamental Cane's platinum serpent's head. "To answer Sonic's earlier question, I was able to analyze all the evidence you handed off to me earlier. I can't guarantee that it'll provide you with all the answers you're looking for, but it should at the least allow you some legroom to work with when the trial reconvenes."

With a disagreeing groan, the cobalt hedgehog merely took the bag and quickly emptied its contents onto the table. The Ornamental Cane, the serpent head's mouth now closed, had the forensics report taped onto it. The Letter from the previous case was now fitted into a plastic bag with another sheet stapled onto the outer plastic. The Written Statement was also given the same treatment in both preservation method and stapled notes.

"I'll go ahead and take a look at both of the letters," Tails announced as he picked up said pieces of evidence and read the results of the analysis. "In terms of the Written Statement, it's been shown that the handwriting definitely belongs to Mephiles. That means he's the one who wrote this, but that doesn't really help us since it already says he claims to have never been at the lighthouse. At the least, we now know this style is unique only to the prosecutor."

"Perhaps there will be some other way to use it later on down the line," Shadow simply suggested, his arms crossed as he moved towards the evidence and looked through them. "It's clear that trying to use its face value isn't going to be of much help. Anyway, we'll think about it later. Continue on with the discussion, Tails."

"Next, we have the Letter that we also wanted a handwriting analysis done on," the fox continued on as he handed the Written Statement to the ebon hedgehog. "Unfortunately, they weren't able to discover anything that hasn't already been made known to us. When they got around to the handwriting analysis, the penmanship was shown to belong to someone other than Mephiles and that he couldn't have wrote it."

"You're not serious, are you?" the defense attorney exclaimed as he took the paper from the fox's hands and read it over himself. "But how is that possible? He's the only one of the four workers from five years ago who could possibly have any reason to write Mr. Pryce this kind of letter and coerce him into murdering his sister. I can't see how this writing couldn't belong to anybody but that stupid prosecutor!"

"Believe me when I say I was just as surprised as you were on this," Salem said in an agreeing tone. "I even had the team scan over past documents written by Mephiles's hand, but none of them matched the writing on this Letter. They said that the writing itself looked like a mesh of different people's style of writing, so that would mean the writer is well-versed in changing penmanship. Of course, that's provided if the whole letter was written by a single person. Thankfully, we have reason to believe that to be the case as the letters E and S are always written in a certain fashion when put together."

Taking another look at the Letter with that in mind, Sonic soon noticed that the cat was right. When written separately, the two letters throughout the document were written in differing styles of penmanship. However, they all looked the same whenever the occasion came that they were paired together in the aforementioned order.

"Apart from that, there was nothing new they could lift off of that piece of paper," the cat concluded. "I don't think it has any more secrets what with how many times it's been sent to a forensics team. I'll bet you all that poor piece of evidence has been analyzed enough times to be considered a frequent visitor to law enforcement agencies."

"And what about the Ornamental Cane?" Leon asked while tilting his head towards the object. "I think I remember hearing earlier that there was blood discovered on the snake head's fangs that Interpol actually failed to notice all these years. Did the forensics team managed to figure out just who it belonged to?"

"Let's see what it says," Shadow said as he took the note off the cane and read through it. "Hopefully, it'll be something helpful against Mephiles. '_The analysis of the blood has proven to be inconclusive. While there are no traces of bleach or any other chemical agents that could destroy the composition, a foreign substance was found to be the cause. As such, there's no way to tell who the owner of the blood is._'"

"What a load of help that ended up being," the cobalt hedgehog sarcastically murmured.

"'_When we decided to investigate just what this foreign substance was, we discovered something interesting,_'" the prosecutor continued on. "'_Apart from being applied onto the teeth beforehand, the substance proved to be organic in nature. Its unique properties allowed it to actually destroy the composition of blood when it comes into contact. Once testing had been concluded, it was shown to be a type of poison exuded from a rare breed of snake found only in the wooded areas of Mobotropolis._'"

"Did you just say there was poison on it?_!_" everybody in the room except for Shadow and Salem exclaimed. Then Tails asked, "Are they sure about that? I mean, there's only one kind of snake in Mobotropolis that produces this kind of poison! It's very aggressive in nature with no known cure. It stays in your bloodstream forever the moment it breaks through your skin and leaves a permanent scar from where the entry wound occurred. One would have to undergo a lifetime of specialized antibiotic treatment in order stop the effects! Those afflicted would die of symptoms akin to both a stroke and heart attack combined if left untreated!"

"I'm just as surprised as you when I first read the passage," the ebon furred hedgehog stoically admitted. "An ailment like this would definitely leave some kind of paper trail since the medication can only be obtained through a doctor's prescription. Something like this would be the ultimate proof that Mephiles was at the crime scene when the murders occurred. I would even go so far as to say that he had to have been the one who at the least killed Charles since the cane was used to bludgeon him to death.

"However, I think this detail will end up working against you should you continue trying pursuing the thought that he's the murderer. Everyone who works in here must submit a medical report to the courthouse if they have some kind of medical issue that would require immediate medical attention. I can assure you now that he has never submitted any such paperwork. That means he's as healthy as one could possibly be."

"B-But what about the scars?" Sonic stuttered. "Tails just said that this kind of poison leaves a noticeable mark from where it first entered the bloodstream."

"True, but it would also result in a bald spot if the victim was an anthropomorph with fur such as everyone in this room," Leon explained. "I know because one of our fellow agents back at Interpol is going through this same treatment. He's a dog and has a bald spot on his upper arm where the poison first entered his bloodstream. He's been like that for over ten years now, and the fur never grew back. Did you guys ever notice any kind of bald spot of Mephiles the entire time he was in the courtroom these past few days?"

Instead of answering, the cobalt hedgehog and fox thought back to all the times they had saw the elder prosecutor in the courtroom. Out of all those times, they never once saw any kind of scar a bald spot in his fur. And never in the past three days did they see or hear of him ever having to take medication for any kind of illness much less poison control.

"…Your silence is answer enough on that topic," Salem sighed. "I suppose then that this cane won't serve as the miraculously damning evidence you've been looking for. Still, I know that the two of you can be resourceful when you need to be. I've only started watching your trial performances a couple hours ago, but I'm impressed with how you were able to use seemingly flimsy evidence and work it so hard it actually fit your explanations."

"Our resourcefulness can only go so far, Salem," the fox explained. "Without anything good to use, Sonic's explanations and my supporting statements can't be of much use. I guess our only hope at this point is that either Vector can find some other way to use this evidence or that Mephiles testifies about something against his favor."

"Well, no use crying over it now," Charmy replied nonchalantly as he packed up the things he brought in back into his bag. "And speaking of Vector, I need to bring these things to him before the trial restarts. The last thing I want is for him to be hunting me down simply because I didn't bring the things to him."

Without saying anything more, the hyper little bee tightly gripped his bag and flew out of the room. This time, the bailiff did not seem ready to strike as he did earlier when the bee first came by.

"I swear; nothing seems to get that little guy down," the albino lion sighed while shaking his head. "I don't know where he gets all that energy. I could certainly use some of it during the all-nighter missions I'm sometimes forced to work through. But yeah, I think it's time that we got out of here and let these two concentrate on what they should be doing next, Salem. There's nothing more we can really do to help them now."

"I guess that's all we can do at this point," the black cat agreed as he followed his younger brother towards the exit. He then suddenly stopped and turned around while pulling something out of his pockets. "I almost forgot; my contact said he had something important in here that he wanted to give you. Don't ask me what it is since he chose not to indulge me on the details. Just make sure you use it if you can to put Mephiles behind bars!"

With an expert flick of his wrist, the Interpol Agent threw an envelope towards the pair; Sonic fumbled with the catch before getting a firm grasp of it. By the time he looked up at the cat, the other had already left the room.

"That was a pretty quick escape," the cobalt hedgehog murmured before turning his attention to the envelope and opening it. "…Looks like it's a letter of sorts. I wonder why their contact would want to write us something."

"_Dear Sonic and Tails,_" the letter started off as the pair silently read it to themselves. "_I'm amazed at the work you've managed to conduct so far with the LK-9 Incident. At the same time, you've also provided Interpol with new hope that we'll be able to get one step closer in completing our case against the smuggling ring. You both definitely show great promise in the legal battlefield known as the law._

"_However, I can only imagine how much trouble you're facing with the trial at this moment. Even as I'm writing this, I've heard that you managed to get Mephiles, the man we're currently interested in, to testify about his actions during the time of the LK-9 Incident. I do wish that I could be there myself to see the lies spewing out of him, but safety and protocol dictates that I stay away at this precarious point of time._

"_Still, that doesn't keep me from writing you this letter. Knowing you Sonic, you're probably all concerned about how you're going to take down a man like Mephiles. I could tell you to not panic, but you'll probably do so anyway. Just remember to remain calm no matter what comes your way and to keep a clear head at all times._

"_And if that still doesn't help, then perhaps the enclosed gift will be of greater use. Granted, I don't know if it will have any use for you by the time Salem is able to deliver this letter to you. Regardless, I do hope you'll find some use for it. Both you and Tails have managed to make it this far by working together; there's no reason you won't be able to see this through to the end with such stellar display of teamwork!_

"_Just remember the basics of being a defense attorney and always believe that your way of thinking is correct until proven wrong beyond all reasonable doubt. If there's ever a possible incongruity, even if it's the smallest of chances, take it and see what wonders you can work with it. Don't be afraid if Mephiles tries to knock you down; he's nothing more than a witness now. With a prosecutor such as Vector on the opposing side, most of your queries should be allowed provided they are pertinent to the trial._

"_And if by some off-chance that you do need my help, I'll be in the courtroom watching the trial in the shadows waiting for the moment when I believe I'm needed. Of course, I hope that isn't the case as you've proven to be one of my most gifted understudies since I first started in the business of law. Your boss and mentor, Dr. Ivo Robotnik._"

"DR. ROBOTNIK?_!_?_!_" both shouted so loudly that several people out in the hallways actually poked their heads in to see if everything was alright. Once the two noticed the crowd and sheepishly waved them away, they turned their attentions back towards one another. This time, they silently expressed their shock through their face alone.

"My boss is Salem's and Leon's contact here in Mobius?" Sonic exclaimed. "He's the one who actually put himself in the front line of trouble and worked his way up to become the smuggling ringleader's right hand man? He's actually an undercover Interpol Agent using his position as a law firm owner to hide in plain sight? I can't believe this!"

"Believe it or not, I doubt Dr. Robotnik would kid around over something of this magnitude," Tails suggested as he quickly recovered and took the empty envelope from the other's hand. "The fact that he chose to out himself to us at this point in time must mean he's confident in our abilities to close this case. And let's not forget that he decided to lend us some help by covertly delivering to us a piece of evidence he felt would be helpful."

Putting his hands into the envelope, the fox pulled out a photograph that had a timestamp on it from five years ago. To be more precise, it was on the day of the double murders about ten minutes before it took place! On it was Prosecutor Mephiles in a barely lit room leaning against a wooden crate while talking on his cell phone. In his other hand was something that looked a lot like an address book. A metal object which caught whatever little light was present glinted next to the old hedgehog's feet. When he turned the picture around, he noticed some scribbling that said "_Potential arrangement of black market auction for smuggling ring. Taken in the Prycey Seafood Warehouse._"

"This was taken in the warehouse ten minutes before the murder occurred?" the defense attorney questioned. "If that's true, then we might now be able to prove Mephiles was lying about where he was that evening! I mean, the warehouse and lighthouse are pretty close to each other. They're pretty much on the same block!"

Before he could say much else on the matter, the bailiff called out to them and mentioned that the recess was almost over.

"If you're planning on using this Five-Year-Old Photograph to help you out with that, then we better make sure he's in the corner with nowhere else to run," the fox reminded as they collected the evidence that was left to them by Salem. "He's already demonstrated how good he is at escaping through the smallest of flaws in our argument, so we have to make sure it's airtight before going with it. It may not be enough to prove that he's the murderer, but it'll at least deal a big blow against his overall credibility!"

"That's all I need right now!" the other exclaimed as he made his way back to the courtroom. "I just need to exploit his weakness and hit him before he knows what's coming. Now come on, Tails; let's knock this super prosecutor down a couple pegs and show him how a rookie attorney like me can beat him at his own game!"

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><p><strong>New Evidence<strong>**:**

Print Report: Documents the prints that were found in the warehouse office. One of them belonged to Leon and were made during his entrapment. The second set were made from gloved hands and couldn't be identified. However, the gloved prints only touched certain areas of the room and indicated that the perpetrator knew exactly where to look for what they wanted.

Warehouse Office Diagram: A blueprint of where everything in the office was. It also has markings on it which demonstrate where the gloved prints and blood were found. Two prints were found on the handles of a file cabinet situated behind the desk. Another set was found all over the wall-mount safe. There were no other gloved prints to be found. The blood was found in the center of the room where a clean spot devoid of dust was found.

Blood Analysis: A forensics report done on the blood found in the warehouse office. While it had appeared recently, a proper examination of it couldn't be done because the composition had been destroyed with bleach. The only known clean sample was taken from Leon's nails from when he wounded the perpetrator, but that alone isn't enough to prove who it belonged to due to lack of a proper culprit.

Written Statement: A letter that was written by the fourth witness five years ago at the start of the LK-9 Incident. A handwriting analysis has shown that Mephiles was the one who wrote it out.

Letter: A document found in the lighthouse basement instructing Max Pryce to murder Lois. The handwriting analysis shows that it couldn't have been Mephiles who written it out. In fact, the penmanship of the letters seem to be a mash of various writing styles and suggests the writer is well-versed in differing writing formats. The proof that it was written out by the same person is the fact that the structure of the E and S when put together are consistently the same throughout the letter.

Ornamental Cane: The weapon used to kill Charles Hedgehog five years ago. The blood found on the serpent head's teeth couldn't be properly analyzed due to the interference of an organic substance in the composition. Upon further examination of the organic substance, it was discovered to be a special type of poison obtained only through a rare breed of snake found in the forests of Mobotropolis. There is no known cure for the poison, and the one inflicted is forced into a lifetime of specialized antibiotics only accessible through prescription. Also, the poison leaves an everlasting scar from where it enters the body; a bald spot is also present on anthropomorphs with fur.

Five-Year-Old Photograph: A picture taken by Dr. Robotnik five years ago. The time stamp shows it was taken just ten minutes before the double murders occurred along with scribbles on the back saying it was taken in the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. It shows Mephiles in a dimply lit area leaning against a crate and talking on his cell phone while looking through an address book. It's believed that he might've been trying to organize a black market auction for the smuggling ring. On the ground next to him is a shiny object made obscure due to it's glint.

**Updated Evidence:**

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he most likely struggled with his killer prior to dying. The murder weapon was the Ornamental Cane discovered to have been in Interpol custody for the past five years. The report makes no mention of any puncture wounds being found on the body.

**New Profiles:**

Charmy Bee: A young and hyper eight-year-old kid who works with Vector at the Chaotix Detective Agency. Because of Espio's arrest, he is currently the only one employed in the business at the moment. He had worked together with Leon in order to search the abandoned warehouse and procure new evidence for both Sonic and Vector to use in the LK-9 Incident.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three-year-old defense attorney of some renown who owns and runs the Robotnik Law Firm. He served as Salem's and Leon's contact in Mobius and is thus himself an agent of Interpol. He has gotten himself close to the smuggling ringleader in order to learn as much as he possibly could about their covert operations. Despite not knowing for sure, he seems to indicate in his letter his belief that Mephiles is the ringleader on top of being a high-interest suspect in the LK-9 Incident.

**Updated Profiles:**

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. He expects nothing but perfection in his work and condones from his opponents nothing short from a blatantly relevant question and an extremely well-based argument. Salem has pointed him out as being a person of interest for Interpol's smuggling ring; this has inadvertently turned him into a potential suspect for the LK-9 Incident.

* * *

><p>Well, I hope you enjoyed that wonderful bombardment of evidence I just threw at you. To be perfectly honest, I don't know how I'm going to make it all work since I pretty much written them off as being useless. Then again, I'm sure I'll find some way to work around it. Strangely enough, it's a rule of mine that I don't commit to any major changes to the chapters once I have it on this site. I've always found ways to get through it before, so this time shouldn't be any different!<p>

But yeah, I also decided to finally showcase what Dr. Robotnik's role in this story has been. For those of you who remember all those anonymous calls at the start of each case, they were Robotnik and, assumed at this point, Mephiles. Robotnik is, in fact, a member of Interpol and acts as a contact to other agents who happen to be in Mobius. I've read all the comments some of you had regarding Robotnik, and I'm sure most of you are surprised that he wasn't actually a true member of the smuggling ring organization.

Still, I'm personally not that happy with how Robotnik turned out for this story. I already knew at the beginning he was going to be a member of Interpol. I was just hoping that he would have a grander entrance as an Interpol Agent. Instead, I botched that moment up and had to settle for outing himself to Sonic and Tails through a letter as he can't really show himself off right now due to obvious safety and work-related reasons. Then again, it was better than just leaving you all to wonder just what was the reason Robotnik always went on those long business trips and never really made much of an appearance in this story other than acting as a figurehead for the law firm Sonic works at.

But yeah, I'll just go ahead and post all of the new evidence I introduced here and go to sleep. It's like 3:30 in the morning for me over here, and I'm dead tired getting this all ready. So please don't forget to leave a review before you move on. Until the next update to this wonderful mystery story everybody!


	36. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 9

Hello everybody! Let me start off by saying that I accidentally lied again in my last author's note. I said that this was going to be the last chapter in this story. Well, I figured that this was way too long to be just one chapter and can easily be cut into two. You might see why by the time you're done reading this.

But yeah, this author's note is going to be unusually short. I don't really have much to say this time around, and I'm not feeling too well at the moment. Believe me when I say it was an added challenge to get this chapter written as well as I can while drugged out on cold medication. Oh, the things I suffer through just to appease you avid readers...

But that's enough of my woes. Hope you enjoy this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave a review telling me what you think about the new chapter. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on here! And have a happy Thanksgiving. But since this is a once in a lifetime moment in history, Happy Thanksgivukkah, a combo of thanksgiving and Hanukkah. This year, the two holidays are on the same day.

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Docks. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice, the second happening during Shadow's case. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that it was also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Picture: A photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had initially received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and smiling brightly at the camera. Amazingly, his entire demeanor appears almost child-like despite his rather strong and toned body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. Just before the trial began, it was discovered that both the paper and digital forms were destroyed. Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails that detail what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career in order to watch over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room with cell phone in hand after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails that depict what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by a single mastermind. It also appears that this person is involved in the smuggling ring Interpol is investigating.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place at the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business known as the "Prycey Seafood Company". It was owned by three people and had employed one person to work on cargo duty; two of the owners were Lois and Maxwell Pryce with only a lesser percentage of the business to their name. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it was forced closed upon being in the spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witnesses found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood Company at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 Incident. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he most likely struggled with his killer prior to dying. The murder weapon was the Ornamental Cane discovered to have been in Interpol custody for the past five years. The report makes no mention of any puncture wounds being found on the body.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at a distance and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after killing Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago through ballistic testing that it was fired from the Pistol that was used once again on Prosecutor Flora Mae. According to the trajectory report, it was fired from a position directly parallel to the hallway.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as the "Prycey Seafood Company". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf located on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office. She then went back to the bookshelf where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, a fact that none of them were able to properly explain. As such, their statements were considered useless and shuffled away.

Leon's Statement: Testimony regarding the moments leading up to Leon's kidnapping. He entered the old Prycey Seafood Warehouse and went to the office in an attempt to collect more information with regards to either the smuggling ring or their person of interest. Before he could perform a thorough search, he was soon attacked and imprisoned in the office before the Chaotix Detective Agency found and rescued him. He mentioned that the room looked as though it had been rifled through when he came to.

Warehouse Keypad: A sophisticated password system for the door to the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. According to Salem, the security company in charge of the password is still supplying service to the building. However, the bi-annual password change is sent to only one person. It's suspected that Mephiles is the one with access to the new passwords.

Salem's Testimony: Testimony recorded during Salem's court appearance. He testified to working overtime at the warehouse from midnight until one. He made it clear that nobody left the lighthouse the moment he went out to take a look after hearing gunshots. All four employees, including himself, were scattered about the Prycey Seafood Business grounds when the police had arrived. Charles was still alive when he first approached him. He also mentioned that Maria and Charles had knowledge of the smuggling ring and believed through their last case's client that the company had ties to the ring.

Print Report: Documents the prints that were found in the warehouse office. One of them belonged to Leon and were made during his entrapment. The second set were made from gloved hands and couldn't be identified. However, the gloved prints only touched certain areas of the room and indicated that the perpetrator knew exactly where to look for what they wanted.

Warehouse Office Diagram: A blueprint of where everything in the office was. It also has markings on it which demonstrate where the gloved prints and blood were found. Two prints were found on the handles of a file cabinet situated behind the desk. Another set was found all over the wall-mount safe. There were no other gloved prints to be found. The blood was found in the center of the room where a clean spot devoid of dust was found.

Blood Analysis: A forensics report done on the blood found in the warehouse office. While it had appeared recently, a proper examination of it couldn't be done because the composition had been destroyed with bleach. The only known clean sample was taken from Leon's nails from when he wounded the perpetrator, but that alone isn't enough to prove who it belonged to due to lack of a proper culprit.

Written Statement: A letter that was written by the fourth witness five years ago at the start of the LK-9 Incident. A handwriting analysis has shown that Mephiles was the one who wrote it out.

Letter: A document found in the lighthouse basement instructing Max Pryce to murder Lois. The handwriting analysis shows that it couldn't have been Mephiles who written it out. In fact, the penmanship of the letters seem to be a mash of various writing styles and suggests the writer is well-versed in differing writing formats. The proof that it was written out by the same person is the fact that the structure of the E and S when put together are consistently the same throughout the letter.

Ornamental Cane: The weapon used to kill Charles Hedgehog five years ago. The blood found on the serpent head's teeth couldn't be properly analyzed due to the interference of an organic substance in the composition. Upon further examination of the organic substance, it was discovered to be a special type of poison obtained only through a rare breed of snake found in the forests of Mobotropolis. There is no known cure for the poison, and the one inflicted is forced into a lifetime of specialized antibiotics only accessible through prescription. Also, the poison leaves an everlasting scar from where it enters the body; a bald spot is also present on anthropomorphs with fur.

Five-Year-Old Photograph: A picture taken by Dr. Robotnik five years ago. The time stamp shows it was taken just ten minutes before the double murders occurred along with scribbles on the back saying it was taken in the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. It shows Mephiles in a dimply lit area leaning against a crate and talking on his cell phone while looking through an address book. It's believed that he might've been trying to organize a black market auction for the smuggling ring. On the ground next to him is a shiny object made obscure due to it's glint.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident. However, he knows next to nothing about the case and must learn as much as he can during the course of the trial. He wishes to try and solve the case despite the fact that expert investigators over the past five years have failed to do so.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails". Ever since proving himself to be an above average investigator during the precinct murder, he has been hired by Dr. Robotnik to be the law firm's local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct. Despite having nothing to add on the case, he's decided to watch the proceedings in the gallery. He delivered the LK-9 evidence to Vector after learning that someone had managed to destroy both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: An Interpol Agent who has decided to reveal his true identity in court in order to be granted immunity from the charges of tampering with the scene of a crime and removal of evidence. He was working undercover in the Prycey Seafood Company at the time the double-murders happened. His real name is actually "Salem".

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen. He has been cleared of murder thanks to Sonic and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident. He's prepared to be pinned as a murderer due to his fingerprints being on the Pistol that killed Maria.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident. Everything he knows about the case is through the many reports that have been documented over the past five years.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. He expects nothing but perfection in his work and condones from his opponents nothing short from a blatantly relevant question and an extremely well-based argument. Salem has pointed him out as being a person of interest for Interpol's smuggling ring; this has inadvertently turned him into a potential suspect for the LK-9 Incident.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor and help as much as he can to keep the trial going and uncover the truth behind it all.

Leukis Kruger: Salem's younger brother who's afflicted with the rare genetic disorder, Feralisis Syndrome. He also happens to be with Interpol. According to Salem, they were reunited after Leukis had managed to successfully shake off members of the smuggling ring who figured out his true identity and wanted him dead. His real name is "Leon".

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Sonic decided to pursue a career as a defense attorney.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Shadow decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor.

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness.

Charmy Bee: A young and hyper eight-year-old kid who works with Vector at the Chaotix Detective Agency. Because of Espio's arrest, he is currently the only one employed in the business at the moment. He had worked together with Leon in order to search the abandoned warehouse and procure new evidence for both Sonic and Vector to use in the LK-9 Incident.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three-year-old defense attorney of some renown who owns and runs the Robotnik Law Firm. He served as Salem's and Leon's contact in Mobius and is thus himself an agent of Interpol. He has gotten himself close to the smuggling ringleader in order to learn as much as he possibly could about their covert operations. Despite not knowing for sure, he seems to indicate in his letter his belief that Mephiles is the ringleader on top of being a high-interest suspect in the LK-9 Incident.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 36: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 9<strong>

"Court will now reconvene!" the Judge announced once everybody had reentered the courtroom and settled into their respective places. "This will be the last time I will allow this trial to be heard today. It has gone on long enough, and I ask that any explanations that either side might have be adequately based with sufficient evidence. Otherwise, I will not hesitate to bring an immediate end to the proceedings. I trust that both the defense and prosecution have an understanding to these parameters?"

"Perfectly, Your Honor," Vector calmly replied with his arms loosely crossed. Sonic and Tails merely nodded their head in acknowledgement as they prepared themselves for the final leg of this long and difficult battle.

"Then allow us to proceed on with the case at hand," the old man nodded with a pound of his gavel. "When we last left off, the defense had been cross-examining Prosecutor Mephiles who had been providing us with his testimony regarding his whereabouts during the night of the LK-9 Incident. Needless to say, they have been producing theories that have yet to be fully substantiated with evidence. Regardless, the prosecution saw some merit to their arguments and believed that a search of the old Prycey Seafood Company Warehouse was in order. Would I be right to assume that the fruits of your labor in that endeavor have arrived, prosecutor?"

"It was a little closer than I would've liked it, but the evidence arrived just a few minutes before we were to reconvene," the crocodile replied as he laid out all the evidence that Charmy had shown to Sonic and Tails earlier. "Of course, I had my detective agency checking the place for evidence long before I had made the request. And it's on that note that I will say I made the proper procedural actions and registered all evidence through the help of Interpol's forensics team before they ever set foot in this courtroom.

"During the investigation, there were a couple set of prints discovered to have been made recently in the warehouse office," he began explaining. "The room was quite dusty due to the lack of use, so it was easy to discern the recentness of them. The owner of one set of prints has been pinpointed and discovered to have belonged to Salem's younger brother and fellow Interpol Agent. However, it has already been proven that he was merely held captive in that room and was the reason why his prints were in there. That's why I insisted before this trial even began that the room be investigated by my agency.

"Now allow me to move on to the second set of prints," he continued on despite the gallery now talking amongst themselves. "They were made from a person who wore gloves and only appeared on choice areas of the room. This leads me to believe that whoever the owner of those prints was knew what they were looking for and where the most probable place for them to search would be. I happen to have a diagram of the warehouse office that illustrates where these suspicious prints were found."

As the prosecutor made mention of the Warehouse Office Diagram, he placed it on the overhead projector so that everyone could see it. The detailing on the diagram immediately caught the attention of most everyone in the room.

"My, I must say that this is rather concise and informative," the Judge admitted with hints of praise lacing his tone as he lightly banged his gavel in order to bring back some order. "Only a file cabinet and a safe were found to have been touched by the gloved prints. And since you said that Interpol Agent Salem's younger brother was held as a captive in that room, I can see why his prints aren't documented here. I suppose that's a matter best left with Interpol to pursue for the time being. However, I'm a bit more concerned about the markings of blood you put on this diagram. Were you able to have them properly analyzed and figure out just when they were left there?"

"Unfortunately, not even the best people working in Interpol forensics were able to find anything useful with it. While the blood had been initially wiped clean, it was done so with a chemical that ultimately destroyed its composition. We most likely suspect it to be bleach, and that caused the test results to be inconclusive. All we know from this is that the blood was spilled recently due to the fact that it was discovered on a suspiciously clean patch of floor. And while there is no evidence to support this, I believe it was made by the same person who created the unidentifiable prints.

"Of course, all this leads up to the original reasoning as to why I asked the court for a recess. As I'm sure you all remember, the defense made a claim that Prosecutor Mephiles was the only one with reasonable access to the old warehouse. At the same time, they have raised interest in wanting to delve into his call history from his old company cell phone. By the witness's own admission, the phone records were most likely held inside the warehouse office. And despite the heavy amount of investigating conducted in that room, such documents were nowhere to be found. I would suspect that the owner of the gloved prints is the one responsible for the disappearing documents."

"I figured that'd be the case," Sonic murmured as the gallery began talking once again. "Charmy and Leon never really made any mention of that when they met us, and I doubt either of them would just forget about it. I guess we'll never know whether or not he was telling the truth about when it was he got that call."

"Order in the court!" the Judge commanded while repeatedly pounding his gavel. "Mr. Sonic, I can't see how this revelation can possibly bode well for you. After all, it was you who posed interest in wanting to see these phone records and have it be the basis of your claim that Prosecutor Mephiles was in fact at the lighthouse that evening. Since this is the case, do you have any other evidence that can help you prove that the witness was at the lighthouse on the night in question?"

_If you count me having a trump card that I can't use yet, then of course I do!_ the cobalt hedgehog mentally exclaimed as he thought back to the Five-Year-Old Photograph he had obtained earlier. He was in no position to really use the piece his boss had provided him, so he decided to approach things at a different angle. "I believe I do have something to that effect, Your Honor. However, I feel that it would be premature of me to present it now without first hearing more testimony from the witness himself. My reasoning for doing so is so that I can fully evaluate the supportiveness of my evidence."

"But what exactly would you want for him to testify about?" the old man asked. "I can't imagine what else you could ask from him that he hasn't already covered."

"Well, we would like to hear through his own words why he feels he couldn't possibly be the murderer," Tails quickly chimed in. "As far as I know, we've yet to hear his direct claims on this topic. All that's been mentioned is that he didn't go to the lighthouse, a claim that can't really stand on its own under normal circumstances were we allowed more time to investigate. But even with our lack of time, I suggest we hear about his claim of innocence in order to clear up any kind of misunderstandings we may have."

"…I suppose we don't have much of a choice in this delicate matter. Bailiff, please tell Prosecutor Mephiles that his presence is once more required in the courtroom."

"Geez, I don't know how many times we can keep on dodging bullets like this," Sonic groaned as the bailiff momentarily left the courtroom. "We need proof that Mephiles is the true culprit to keep this trial going, but he's the only one left who can provide us with any hint of the truth whether he likes it or not!"

"That means we're going to have to really pay attention and catch whatever lies that come out of him," Tails murmured as Mephiles followed the bailiff in. "And we're going to have to make sure that our attacks are better than good. There's only so much Vector can do on his end of things to help us keep this going."

"I hear from the bailiff that there's more you would like to ask of me?" the old hedgehog stated the moment he resituated himself at the witness stand. "I had thought that the need to hear from me would be rendered useless the moment you received the results of your investigation of the warehouse."

"Unfortunately, there are still a couple of minor details that we need to have cleared up," the Judge explained. "If you don't mind, could you please explain to us in detail why it is that you can't be the culprit behind the LK-9 Incident? Since we don't have time to conduct a thorough investigation into your claim, the defense has seen it fit to hear directly from you in order to clear up any remaining concerns."

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they would try to pull something like that in order to get what they want out of this dead case. No matter; I'll be more than happy to indulge upon you all the reason why I'm not the murderer. After all, the answer as to why lies within the piece of evidence that had been presented as a new connection between this case and the one I had just concluded earlier."

"I would suppose that you're talking about the Pistol?" the cobalt hedgehog rhetorically asked as he knew he was not going to be getting any kind of answer. "What do you claim is on it that will clear you of these suspicions?"

"Don't tell me that you've already forgotten what's been proven to be on there," the old prosecutor chided with a wry smile. "Remember how there was the unexplainable phenomenon about one of the pieces of evidence presented in the last trial? It was through rather admittedly plausible scenarios that you said the Pistol had anything to do with this incident. Now it's my turn to present something else about it that's more than relevant."

"…Wait a minute!" the fox suddenly exclaimed as he realized where the witness was going with this. "You're not really going to say…!"

"I see you've finally caught on to my line of logic. I'll continue to proclaim that I have nothing to do with these murders. In turn, I'll hand you off the name of a more probable suspect as dictated by the evidence you have on hand. And for those of you who are still too dense to know what I mean, I'm officially petitioning the courts to charge Prosecutor Shadow Hedgehog with the murder of Maria Robotnik!"

Needless to say, the court was sent into another uproar upon hearing this proclamation! Both the defense and prosecution were stunned that Mephiles decided to make such claim; even the Judge was taken aback as he had actually had to bend down to pick up the gavel he dropped. All the while, the gallery talked loudly amongst themselves that it was hard to hear one's own voice above the chaos.

"…Order in the court!" the old man finally shouted, his gavel barely heard over the noise. "I want order in this courtroom now!"

"Objection!" Vector quickly exclaimed as the clamor died down. "I want an explanation about this, Prosecutor Mephiles! Just what exactly is your basis for suddenly bringing about this charge against Prosecutor Shadow?"

"Would I be right in assuming that you're asking for my testimony?" the old hedgehog coolly replied as though nothing major happened. "That's the only way I can ever see myself explaining all this to the court."

"Of course we want you to testify!" Sonic responded. "You think we're asking you this just because we're a bunch of idiotically curious cats? Tell us why you think Shadow was the one who killed Maria Robotnik and present us evidence that proves it."

"Don't think for a moment that I'm like you and randomly made this claim without having a single thing to back it up. Allow me to show you why it is that I'm considered by most to be an expert prosecutor."

_**Reason behind my Indictment**_

You can consider this to be my official indictment against Prosecutor Shadow for the charge of murder. The Pistol that was used to connect the previous case to this one is proof enough on the validity of my claim. In case you don't remember, the good prosecutor's fingerprints were found on the weapon. As the defense has already proven, there was no time that he could've touched it during the entirety of Prosecutor Flora Mae's murder. As such, the only time that he could've laid hands on it was five years ago when he was "kidnapped and imprisoned" at the lighthouse. That was when he used it to kill Ms. Robotnik in cold blood!

_**End Testimony**_

"…That…actually made a whole lot of sense," Sonic begrudgingly admitted with a frown large enough to be seen from across the world. "But even if what you're saying really happened, you still haven't taken Charles Hedgehog's murder into account! You can't go pegging Shadow as the murderer if you can't also prove that he was able to kill the detective. The gun only helps to supplement your claim about Ms. Robotnik's death!"

"It appears you've been running under the assumption the entire time that both these deaths were committed by the same person," Mephiles simply said without any hint of hesitation. "However, I don't believe you've yet to show how your convenient little idea is what happened. There's no evidence to prove this little fantasy of yours is the truth.

"Now take my explanation of things, for example," he continued on. "Everything that I've testified to has been backed by both the evidence and the irrefutable circumstances that surround them. With such wonderful explanations covered by practically infallible pieces of information, it's hard to construe my words to be anything but the truth. And it's with these words combined with your lack of proof that the murders were conducted by the same person that I say Prosecutor Shadow only murdered Ms. Robotnik."

"The witness is right about that," Vector replied, seemingly satisfied with the answer to the sudden accusation. "Since the time we started overseeing this case, we've been running on the assumption that the two murders were committed by one person. I don't believe that there ever was evidence that accounted for that fact, so Prosecutor Mephiles's words are rather hard for you to argue against. And with what he's already presented, it's seems to be within reason that Prosecutor Shadow was the one responsible for Maria's death."

"Don't tell me you're actually falling for all this crap, Vector!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he slammed his fists on the table. "Shadow's the last person who would ever want to kill anyone. I thought I already proved as much in my last trial!"

"Calm down, Sonic!" Tails reprimanded as he poked the other's shoulder. "Whether or not Vector believes this isn't important. You need to concentrate on how to prove to the court that Mephiles's explanation of things can't be the truth!"

"And how do you suggest I do that, Tails? His explanation about the Pistol along with when it was possible for Shadow to have touched it fits all too well!"

"It's true that we can't really refute too much without having to contradict everything we've worked to prove thus far," the fox admitted with a thoughtful sigh. "He's really doing everything he can to have our words work against us. Still, there is the part about the chance of there being two murderers at the scene that night. There's only enough information to properly indict Shadow for killing Maria; there's nothing against him with Charles. Therefore, we must find some way to prove that the murders were conducted by a single person. That's the only way we can get Shadow in the clear!"

"I suggest that the two of you stop chatting the time away and hurry up with the cross-examination," the crocodile cut in before clearing his throat. "If you really believe that the witness's accusations against Prosecutor Shadow are wrong, then you best get on with the questioning and prove his innocence. Under the current circumstances, I'm afraid that I'll be forced to press charges against him unless something new arises."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Then how about we start off asking some questions?" Sonic began upon catching onto Vector's discreet verbal push. "I think we're entitled to that much after the bombshell of an accusation we've been handed. Why are you suddenly so sure that Shadow was the one who murdered Ms. Robotnik?"

"Had you not been blinded by your want to indict me, I'm sure you would've understood where I was coming from," Mephiles said. "Instead, you seemed intent to willingly blind both the court and yourself from the truth that's been standing blatantly before you. Prosecutor Shadow could've only held the gun during the LK-9 Incident five years ago. As such, he's the only one who had the chance to kill Ms. Robotnik that night. All of the witnesses that night, myself included, had solid alibies."

"I can't say that your alibi is that solid, but I'll let that issue slide for now," Tails said as he crossed his arms. "Apart from everything you've already explained in your testimony, there's still one thing that isn't clear. If Shadow really is a murderer, then what reason would he have to want to kill her?"

"I hardly think that motive should be of any concern now," the old prosecutor merely replied with an amused huff. "I doubt we'd be able to properly investigate it at this point. It easily could've stemmed from some petty argument they had some time before that led up to it. I personally could care less about it. All that I've said have been backed by words proven by your own hand. If you really want to stand against me on this, then you best be prepared to contradict your own words."

"I think that's hardly necessary," Vector said before Sonic could reply. "Don't forget that some of the things you used to base your indictment on also came from me. If the defense truly wanted to go back on their own words, then they'd have to provide me with a convincing argument as to why I was wrong alongside with them. Until they can do that, I'm going to stand firm on my findings in the matter thus far."

"And I'll happily second that thought!" the cobalt hedgehog quickly agreed. "I'm ready to admit that the basis of your argument makes use of information that has been proven to be true by me. However, that doesn't automatically mean that your entire argument is the truth! You've yet to present any concrete evidence that can back up your claim!"

"Oh, but I've already provided you with the supporting evidence," the witness calmly countered. "The Pistol serves as such. Only Shadow's fingerprints were found on the weapon; not even Maxwell Pryce's prints were found from when he used it. I don't see any other reason why that would be except for the fact that he's the one responsible. Combine that with the fact that he was also at the lighthouse at that exact moment and we have a well-established window of opportunity."

"But he kidnapped and placed down in the lighthouse's basement!" the young fox argued. "Sonic, Detective Knuckles, and I can personally vouch for that since we were the other kidnap victims. None of us ever saw a person go through that door from the moment we were locked down there! And I can say with great certainty that one of us would've noticed the door opening as light would've immediately poured into that pitch-black room. Under those conditions, I can hardly see how he would've found the time to escape from the room, find a gun, and then use it to kill Ms. Robotnik!"

"It's true that those conditions are ideal for the creation of an irrefutable alibi. However, don't allow yourself to be swayed to obvious conclusions by seemingly obvious scenarios. Every single detail should be taken into account. For example, I seem to remember that all the kidnap victims mentioned having no recollection of ever being moved to the lighthouse's second floor where they were ultimately discovered."

"What exactly are you getting at, Prosecutor Mephiles?" the Judge asked, his tone clearly reflecting his intrigue at the current line of thought.

"I think it fair to say that everyone in that basement was knocked out at some point. With my indictment now in play, it's my belief that Shadow used the cover of darkness to knock his fellow prisoners out cold. Once that was done, he unlocked the basement door using a spare key he had on him. Then he managed to locate the Pistol and lied in wait for the person unfortunate enough to pass him in an attempt to rescue the other three in the basement."

"You came up with that all from the unexplainable relocation from basement to second floor?" the crocodile asked with a raised eyebrow. "I would suppose then that you have the evidence to back that up?"

"I'll admit that the police found no such evidence on his person at the time. However, that only lends credence to the idea that he disposed of it before they had arrived. Allow me to explain what I believed to have happened.

"The spare key was found in the office desk," Mephiles began to explain. "I know this because I looked in there the day after the murder took place. It's obvious that the police never thought the room to be related to the crime since I was allowed access, so it then goes to say there was never a fingerprint analysis conducted on it. Still, he could've been working together with the kidnappers who then supplied him with the key before locking him away.

"And now we'll move onto the matter with the Pistol. It was found lying next to the woman's body. In order to clear up the matter regarding how his prints got on it, he came up with the excuse that he fought with his captor and managed to get ahold of the gun before it was taken away. It wouldn't be too hard of a story to believe considering the conditions leading up to both the prelude and aftermath of the imprisonment.

"Once he placed everything where they should've been and concocted a suitable excuse, he relocated the three unconscious kidnap victims from the basement to the second floor," he concluded with his arms crossed in a cocky manner. "I don't know why he did it, but the fact remains that it happened. All he had to do after all this was to knock himself out and pretend to be another kidnap victim in order to successfully create a rock solid alibi."

"So you're basically saying that you have nothing to substantiate the potential reality that is your claim," the old man concluded. "I will admit that everything you've mentioned seems very probable. However, it's rather hard to see it as a plausible truth when you have nothing to base it on apart from your own opinions."

"That may very well be the case, but that doesn't mean there isn't a possibility for it to be the truth," the old prosecutor objected. "I'm sure the defense would've raised an objection by now had they anything to go against me. And until that happens, my very sound opinion can't be properly debated as being incorrect."

"As a matter of fact, everything you've said does provide me with enough evidence to at least consider charging Prosecutor Shadow with Ms. Robotnik's murder," Vector admitted with a thoughtful hum. "Still, I'd rather hear of more concrete evidence on the matter before I'll really be comfortable with the thought. What's on hand right now doesn't allow me to think that such a claim would really stick under intense scrutiny."

"Speaking of concrete evidence, just how is it that you know about the kidnap victims being relocated to the second floor of the lighthouse?" Sonic asked the witness. "What you said is the truth, but do you mind amending your testimony a bit so that it reflects explain how you were able to come across this detail?"

"It seems like you're trying to grasp at straws with this question. No matter; I'll be more than happy to follow up on your request."

_**New Statement**_

Most of what I've mentioned came from the case file which I requested to be copied and faxed to me during the recess.

_**End New Statement**_

"So you're saying that you first learned about the details of this case during the recess?" Tails questioned while Sonic was deep in thought about what he could use in the new piece of testimony. "As such, you say you had no knowledge about the kidnapping until having looked through those documents. I know that I was a bit young to really understand things five years ago, but even I knew that this was a high-profile event. I find it hard to believe that you never knew of a single detail until now."

"You can believe in whatever it is you want," Mephiles merely replied with a nonchalant shrug. "It doesn't change the fact that I know nothing about that. I was never planning of being the prosecutor if it were to ever be brought to court. Why then would I bother learning about the new details that might've arisen during the course of the investigation? It was only when you decided to accuse me of being a murderer that I thought it to be in my best interest to take a look through those documents. After all, it'd probably be the best thing for me to see what I can use to defend myself against your already baseless claims."

"And yet you managed to find something in the files that you could use to in order to pin the blame on Prosecutor Shadow," Vector said before letting out an amused scoff. "That's quite coincidence that you found this information that could both serve as your defense as well as an indictment upon another. Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised about how this has turned out to be. After all, this is coming from you, someone who's considered by most in the law to be one of the greatest prosecutors of this century."

"How nice of you to be flattering me, Prosecutor Vector," the old hedgehog sarcastically quipped. "Aside from what you just said, the time I took during the recess to read through the file was the first time I ever laid eyes on its contents. I hope that will supply you with more than an adequate reason as to why I know as much as I do about this trial."

"Hmm, that does sound like a valid reason for his sudden acquisition of knowledge," the Judge stated as he seemed convinced by it all. "It's not too hard to request the files from here in the courthouse. All one would need to do is find a computer and ask to transfer the files over to you. I can't see how anything could possibly be wrong with this."

"It's nice to see that the Judge has decided to agree with me on this. I hope the defense understands what this means for them and their argument. My accusation has been well-based by the pieces of information that I've garnered from both recorded sources and what has already been proven in this trial by them. I can't see how they'll be able to refute the possibility that I've brought onto the table."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Then how about I show you exactly what is wrong with your version of things," Sonic suddenly said as he snapped out of his thought-induced stupor. "You say that you learned about the key details of the case when you looked through the case file during the recess. If I'm wrong about this, then correct me now."

"There's nothing to correct you on if you're just going to repeat what I said," Mephiles stoically replied, his eyes betraying the slight confusion he had about this statement. "It sounds like you're finally starting to see the futility in your efforts."

"Oh, I promise you that futility is the last thing I see in my efforts," the cobalt hedgehog chuckled as he brought out the manila folder that contained the LK-9 Case File. "This is the file I received that contained the details of the LK-9 Incident. If it weren't for this, then I wouldn't have been able to get as far in this trial as I have."

"Then you were smart enough to do your homework before doing your best to drag on the proceedings," the old hedgehog snidely said. "To be honest, I'm surprised that you knew the procedure in order to procure those documents in such a short amount of time."

"It's true that I only got these documents today, but I didn't have to go through any kind of official procedure to get them. These files are actually a copy that Detective Silver handed off to me before the trial began. He also made mention of something rather interesting. When he tried to make another copy for himself, he noticed that the computer wasn't able to register the file name. When he looked further into it, he realized that somebody managed to hack into the precinct computers and erase all traces of the file!"

"I-Is that true?_!_" the Judge exclaimed as the gallery began expressing their shock. He then asked after quieting the crowd with a few loud bangs of his gavel, "Purposefully destroying police records is a very grave offense! With where they're held and how tight the security on them is, I can only imagine that this was done by a person who works with the law. How in the world was this possible?_!_"

"I assure you that the precinct is currently looking into this matter," Vector assured the courts. "And I do agree with your sentiments that this could only have been an inside job. It also appears that the one responsible for hacking into the system took care to destroy the actual official file that was stored in the precinct records room. As of now, both the defense and I are the only ones with official copies."

"As much as this is a shock to us all, I fail to see how this revelation has anything to do with me," the witness said as he shifted his gaze towards the defense. It was almost as though he was silently goading them into making fools of themselves. "Do you mind elaborating on it a bit so that I can see what's going on in those scattered minds of yours? God only knows just how much you can really prove over this."

"You claimed to have receive a copy of those files for the first time during the recess," Tails recapped as he countered with his own glare. "Sonic gave you the chance to amend your testimony, but you chose to stick with that story. However, we've proven it to be a lie since the original files were reported to be destroyed before this trial ever began! Under these conditions, it's impossible for you to have seen even a single page of that file as the only copies left were in my and Prosecutor Vector's possession!"

"…Humph, I see where it is you're thinking about now. It sounds like you both managed to come up with a rather valid argument against me over such a trivial matter. I must admit, I'm impressed that you were able to pull off such an impressive objection with information that even I had no knowledge of before this."

"Mr. Sonic, can you please explain what it is your assistant is trying to get at?" the old man asked. "If the file had already been destroyed before we began this trial, then how did Prosecutor Mephiles gain knowledge about certain details if he's already admitted to having no prior knowledge about it all?"

"…The only conclusion I can come up with is that he lied about how he really came to know of this information," Sonic responded after giving it some thought. "During the latter portions of the cross-examination, he stayed adamant with the idea that he obtained a copy of the LK-9 Case File and studied up on the information in it. While that has now been proven to be false, I do believe him when he says he never bothered to read up on the case during the five years it's been in existence."

"If you believe him on that, then just what is it are you trying to conclude?" the crocodile asked with an intrigued eyebrow raised. "I can't see what you can argue with if you've already acknowledged that half of your contradiction can't be disputed."

"If Prosecutor Mephiles never really had a look through the documents, then there's only one opportunity where he could've known of such sensitive information," the cobalt hedgehog simply explained. "This would if he were at the lighthouse when the murders were taking place. As such, I'm going to use this to revamp my previous accusation and proclaim once more that he really was at the scene of the crime along with the other three witnesses!"

"Are you truly still trying to place me at the lighthouse during the time of the murders?" Mephiles asked as though he was not being incriminated once again. "I thought we've already gotten past that. You're really adamant to pin this on me rather than go along with my very sound explanation against Prosecutor Shadow. If you're going to continue on with this, then where's your proof that I was even at the lighthouse that night? The last time you were trying to prove it, you convinced the Judge to call a recess in order to search the abandoned warehouse for phone records that weren't even there! Now you're trying to twist my own words into a form that best suits your needs."

"Then how do you explain your knowledge of what happened with the kidnap victims?" the fox continued on with the argument. "Unless you were able to study up on the documents prior to today, there's no way you could've been as descriptive as you were while formulating your explanation behind your indictment. The only way for this to be possible is that you were present at the lighthouse that night!"

"…I think it best that you provide the court with an explanation to this inconsistency," the Judge suggested after a moment of silence enveloped the room. "As of now, I'm inclined to agree with the defense that you had to have been at the lighthouse in order to be so detailed about certain information. How exactly did you know of the conditions regarding the kidnap victims if you never once were able to look through the LK-9 Case File? I suggest you explain yourself if you don't want to be officially placed under the spotlight."

"…I suppose I don't have much of a choice on the matter," the old hedgehog sighed in annoyance. "After all, it wouldn't be good for me as a prosecutor to have my good name be sullied by the likes of a rookie attorney who can't even provide proof of his claims. I just hope that this will finally satisfy their unjustifiably suspicious minds."

"With you being the one who's giving us testimony, I really doubt that's going to happen anytime soon," the defense attorney grumbled. His little brother simply pinched the bridge of his nose in response to the statement.

_**How I Knew About the Kidnapping**_

I wasn't lying when I said I spent the recess skimming through details from the LK-9 Case File. During that time, I remembered having been handed a report detailing the kidnapping when I went to give detectives my Written Statement. The one who spoke with me was trying to use it to pressure me into giving information, but he failed miserably in that regard. Needless to say, I was given a copy of the kidnapping report five years ago. I've kept it with me since then and only decided during the recess to have an actual careful look through it. I won't argue whether or not I told a half-truth; it can't be said under these conditions that I outright lied about seeing a report that had originated from the main file.

_**End Testimony**_

"You seem to have a rather convenient excuse for everything that doesn't go your way," Sonic stated with a skeptically raised eyebrow. "In fact, you've now told us a different story about how you knew about the kidnapping details! It's kind of hard for us to view this as the truth after what you pulled on us."

"I'll admit that this is different from my previous claim of having directly read from the files today, but I never thought that someone would go so far as to destroy it," Mephiles replied with a mere shrug. "That's quite an extreme stunt for anyone to consider pulling off. Had I known about that, then I would've settled for simply producing the evidence that shows how I really came to know of the kidnapping details."

"Would I be right in assuming that is a part of the LK-9 Case File that talks about the conditions surrounding the kidnap victims?" Vector asked as the witness took out a piece of paper from his gloves and handed it to the bailiff. It was then placed on the projector for the entire courtroom to see. "This would serve to save you from your own contradiction if it's the real deal. You sure did come prepared for this trial, didn't you?"

"I only started preparing during the previous recess seeing as how I was forcibly being put under the spotlight," the old hedgehog explained. "I just never thought that the defense would choose to use my knowledge of the crime as a way to place me at the lighthouse that night. I hope this will serve to satisfy them and show that I knew of this information in a form other than being directly at the scene."

"But is that really the truth?" the cobalt hedgehog murmured so that only Tails could hear him. "Ever since we started accusing you, you've been trying everything you can to get out of it. All your arguments are admittedly sound, but they have to be a bunch of lies if you're really the true culprit behind this. And if that's true, then you would have the most to gain by destroying all traces of the LK-9 Incident!"

"But you have no proof of that except for the fact that the case file is missing," Tails calmly reminded. "I don't know if we'll ever find anything to connect this to Mephiles, but all we can do is hope something pops up later on down the line. Right now, we need to concentrate on deconstructing his testimony and see if there's anything we can use. The main sticking point is about how he knew of the sensitive details about the kidnapping."

"But he has direct proof of having been handed a copy of the document from the files five years ago. The writing looks exactly the same as the one we have. I can't really make a good argument with that in the way. In fact, I don't think I have anything on me that can even remotely help me out with this!"

"I was actually kind of hoping you weren't also going to admit that," the fox groaned before noticing the people in the courtroom staring at them impatiently. "We've been dealt worse hands before. We just need to go with this one and see how it works out. We better be quick about it before everybody starts going jumping on us for wasting time."

"I hope you two are merely conversing about your next course of action and not what you'll be doing once this is all over," the crocodile spoke after loudly clearing his throat. "Are you or are you not going to proceed with your cross-examination? Truth be told, I don't see any merit in conducting it as the witness's testimony sounds more than reasonable despite the fact that we had to uncover a lie to get to it."

"…Not all testimonies are as infallible as they first appear, Prosecutor Vector," Sonic replied after taking a moment to gather his thoughts. "I've proven this to be true time and again during my previous three cases. Even the smallest of inconsistencies can open the path to a new line of questioning we might otherwise not have known to pursue. That's what happened in the previous testimony, and I intend to prove the same thing with this one!"

"Be careful not to get too high on that horse of yours or you'll risk snapping your neck when you fall," Mephiles said with a light chuckle. "Inconsistencies come and go as they please and vary in accordance to the situation they're called upon. Only the direct meaning of it can constitute how useful it may be, and I can assure you that your last inconsistency was nothing more than a pebble on the road."

"Then I guess we should be looking for a boulder instead. Either way, I'm going to find that inconsistency in your 'perfect' testimony. Then I'm going to use it to prove that Shadow is not the murderer and that you were in fact at the lighthouse that night!"

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Allow me to clarify one thing," Tails began while Sonic began skimming through the evidence for anything they could use. "You said that you spent the recess going through details mentioned in the LK-9 Case File. You then presented to the court a copy of the kidnapping report that was in the file. Are you telling us that you were studying up on this single sheet of paper for the entire hour that we were taking a break?"

"It was the only piece of paper I could use to learn about the kidnapping," Mephiles admitted. "I've already admitted that I didn't look through the actual file itself."

"But then why did you lie about it in the first place?" the fox pressed. "There's no reason for you to have done that. People usually lie when they're trying to hide something that would incriminate them. However, I can't see a single thing that this truth has that could possibly cause you any kind of legal harm."

"As I've said before, I hate being forced to go through trivial matters," the old hedgehog replied as he let out a sigh. "Apart from the fact that the files were destroyed before today's proceedings ever began, how does this change anything? I'll admit that I probably stretched the truth a bit in saying that I looked through the physical file. However, I was definitely telling the real truth in regards to having seen the report that documented the kidnapping."

"Which is how you then combined the details that you felt pertained from your last trial to this one," Vector concluded before there was any more rebuttal. "With the copy of the report that you've shown us, I find it quite hard for the defense to really refute anything. It's in our nature to lie every now and again; that doesn't mean that each one of them has something that it's trying to hide."

"It may be in our nature, but there's always some underlying reason for one to lie," Sonic countered once he was done skimming though the evidence. "But I'll leave that alone for now. There isn't anything in the evidence that would suggest a reason behind his lie. Instead, allow me to get into some things that we need to have clarified.

"Prosecutor Mephiles, do you think you can tell us a little more about the detective you claimed to have given you the kidnapping report? I didn't think that it was standard procedure for them to be presenting rather sensitive case documents to those who aren't considered to be witnesses to a case."

"If you intend for me to speak ill of the dead, then I suggest you lower your expectations a few pegs. It doesn't matter what I say about the late detective; you can't bring him in and have him clarify my words."

"It was never my intent to summon the detective," the cobalt hedgehog simply replied. "I just want to know what happened while you were there giving your Written Statement. I don't think that's too much to ask from you."

"…I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you what transpired between the two of us. It isn't as though its insignificance would serve you much help apart from appeasing your ever annoying curiosity. All that transpired between us was him ultimately trying to intimidate me into giving him more information about the case. Apparently, he failed to get the memo that I was merely there to testify about having never been at the lighthouse at that time. Then again, I'm sure the detectives on the case were all stumped as to what actually happened. They must've been really desperate to get their hands on even the smallest of clues."

"Can you tell us what the conversation between you was? You're still a bit vague as to how exactly you were intimidated."

"And how is this supposed to be important, Mr. Sonic?" the crocodile quickly asked as he fiddled with his gold chain in amusement. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're just trying to stall for time. If you don't have anything, then just come outright and admit it. Don't string us along for a ride that only leads straight off the edge of a cliff!"

"In case you haven't noticed, Prosecutor Mephiles doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would so easily be intimidated by another much less a detective. In fact, I'd believe it if he were the one to have intimidated the detective. I doubt many people would ever dare to try and intimidate the witness, so I think it's important that we understand the reasoning behind this strange occurrence."

"But I never said that I gave in to the intimidation," Mephiles quickly replied. "Being intimidated and giving into it are completely different matters. I never went so far as to give any indication that he was going in the right direction with his claims."

"And yet you're too well-respected by many people who work with the law that they would never dare to go against you," Tails smoothly countered. "Unless the detective you were giving your testimony to was some kind of big-name hotshot, I doubt he'd have good reason for intimidating you unless he felt merit to do so."

"…I think it would be faster for all of us if we simply entertained the defense's request," the Judge sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can see they're not going to be letting go of this issue anytime soon. But if I'm to be perfectly honest, I am somewhat curious as to how exactly you were being intimidated five years ago. Do you mind adding that information to your official testimony?"

"Oh, this should prove to be interesting," Vector grumbled before crossing his arms. "I never thought that Your Honor would ever actually condone additional testimony based off of nothing but hearsay. Then again, we are talking about the rookie extraordinaire here. Let's see what you could possibly pull off with this."

"I'll bet you a hundred-to-one that it's just another one of their infamous bluffs," the witness scoffed as a wry smile approached his lips. "Still, it's best that I talk about it since the Judge himself expressed interest with the matter."

_**New Statement**_

He claimed to have evidence that tied me to the murders and would persecute me to the full extent of the law unless I cooperated.

_**End New Statement**_

"In other words, you're saying that the detective was proposing to you a plea deal of sorts," the Judge surmised as he appeared thoughtful about this new information. "In exchange for providing you with some level of leeway, you would hand him any information you had in regards to the murders."

"Unfortunately for him, I knew absolutely nothing about the investigation that would've been of any help," Mephiles sighed while shrugging his shoulders. "It was clearly the man's desperate attempts at trying to garner more information for an already hopeless cause. In the end, his threats were revealed to be the empty vessels they were. He got nothing from me except for the Written Statement that I had originally came to deliver."

"Do you think you can tell us exactly what the claim the detective was making?" Tails asked. "I would assume that whatever way he tried to coerce you would've had to fallen within standard interrogation procedures.

"He said that the police had a picture that showed me being in the vicinity of the Prycey Seafood Company earlier that evening before the murders occurred," the old prosecutor recalled. "Being the prosecutor that I am, I immediately asked that he show me this so-called picture. The sad excuse he came up with was that it wasn't proper protocol to be showing evidence to their witnesses. I, however, knew the truth that you can show the person you're accusing evidence if it has bearing to what you're accusing them with. He quieted down when I brought it up and never brought about his faceless threat again."

"Were they really that desperate that they would lie about what they had against their witnesses?" Vector asked in fascination. "I'll admit that they really wanted to figure out who killed their fellow detective and an attorney, but that's taking it too far! Why didn't you file a complaint against the officer for that?"

"Don't think for a moment that the thought never crossed my mind," the old hedgehog quickly countered with little hesitation. "I had every right to have his job stripped from him because of that. Fortunately for him, I had more pressing matters to attend to as they required my full attention. Don't forget that I was also the owner of the Prycey Seafood Company, the business that served as the backdrop for this incident. Imagine all the things I had to do just to keep the business from being flooded with negativity because of it."

"And since the detective has already passed, I can't see what we're able to do with this information," the old man softly replied out of respect before turning his attention towards the defense. "Mr. Sonic, I haven't seen or heard a single thing in this testimony that suggests to me that Prosecutor Mephiles is lying. In fact, it seems to only supplement his previous testimony and clear up what little inconsistencies there were. I'm failing to see just what it is you want to accomplish with this."

"I dare say that they're merely trying to bluff their way through this case. I've heard things about their performance in other cases. The one thing that always seems to be the same is that they bluff their way through most things in hopes that they can find their answer. I honestly find it amazing how they haven't crashed and burned yet."

"It's true that they love to employ bluffs when things start to look bleak," the crocodile admitted without bothering to mask his statement from sounding like a comment. "However, they always make sure that what they say has some relevancy with the evidence they have on hand. I've seen it myself before, and I can say for sure that their bluffs are as close to extreme legal moves they would ever pull. Still, even I must agree with the Judge in that there doesn't seem to be anything worth bluffing over."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Then I suggest you listen carefully so you'll know where I'm going with this," Sonic responded as his trademark cocky smile appeared. Prosecutor Mephiles, I think it safe to say that you probably had a hard time trying to keep the company afloat what with the murders spreading around bad publicity. Yet despite all of that hard work, you were bought out by a third person after having been put through bankruptcy. Sounds like nothing more than an unfortunate fail in something you put so much work into."

"I hope your goal isn't to merely insult the integrity of the work I put into that place," Mephiles accused with a harsh glare. "You don't know the first thing about running a business, so I can't see where you get at talking to me like that."

"Oh, I'm merely setting up the backdrop for what I'm about to say next," the cobalt hedgehog said as he suddenly started smirking. "After all, it's clear to me now just how much effort you put into making it look like you were just a witness in these tragic events. And yet even after bringing us this far, you manage to trip yourself up at the end."

"…I'm afraid you're starting to confuse me," the old prosecutor calmly replied despite the moment of hesitation in his voice. "Just how exactly did I 'trip myself up' as you so nicely put it? Everything I've made mention to is either backed by the evidence or statements that can't be proven but are more likely than not to be the truth."

"That's only because you're basing your words on the evidence that you have knowledge of. However, I happen to have in my possession more evidence that have been handed to me thanks in part by the efforts of Interpol during the recess. They felt it prudent to hand me their findings from that particular day five years ago."

"And what exactly is the new evidence that you claim can conjure up whatever kind of contradiction you're trying to raise?" Vector asked, his voice clearly intrigued with what he just heard. "I'd love to know what you're going to use to prove whatever kind of inconsistency you claim to have unearthed."

"Then let's hope that this will show you exactly what I discovered within this testimony! All you have to do is take a good look at the Five-Year-Old Photograph that was handed to me earlier to see what I'm talking about."

Without wasting any more time, Sonic took out the photo Dr. Robotnik handed off and placed it on the projector. Once it was up, everyone in the courtroom let out an audible sound of confusion as to what the meaning of the picture was. Even Mephiles clearly looked confused, although he seemed so for a reason different than those in the gallery.

"What exactly is this photograph about?" the Judge asked as he seemed to be the only one not surprised and more intrigued. "All I see here is the witness in some kind of building making a call while looking through a book of sorts."

"On the back of this photo are some words written by an Interpol Agent other than Salem or Leon," Tails began explaining. "For obvious reasons, we won't be revealing their names so as to keep them from being targeted. Regardless, it's been documented clearly that this was taken five years ago inside the Prycey on business grounds and within walking distance of the crime scene, this proves that Prosecutor Mephiles has been lying to us this entire time!"

Upon hearing this, the entire courtroom went in an uproar! All of them were clearly shocked at this revelation and what it meant. Even the Judge was beyond shocked yet was still able to bang at his gavel in an attempt to regain order. Vector was clearly taken aback by this contradiction; he actually tugged at his chain so hard that it snapped and fell onto the table along with his headphones. Even the witness was unusually fidgety about the entire situation as he stood on the witness stand waiting for whatever was to come at him next.

"ORDER IN THE COURT!_!_!" the Judge practically bellowed in order to be heard. The tone was loud enough to immediately immerse the entire courtroom in total silence. "Prosecutor Mephiles, you will tell us what the meaning of this is!"

"…What is it you want me to say?" the old hedgehog merely asked as he tried to brush it off. Unfortunately, his body language was saying something else as he tightly crossed his arms and covertly avoided eye contact with the Judge. "The defense has yet to fully explain what it is they mean to do by presenting this relatively unknown piece of evidence."

"Then allow us to make this photo less unknown!" the fox simply responded. "You said in your last statement that the detective you gave your Written Statement to threatened to expose your involvement with the murders. Now the defense isn't about to claim whether or not what he said was the truth; we have no evidence to prove that. However, what this has uncovered for us is that you were, in fact, within the vicinity of the Prycey Seafood Company on the night of the crime. The timestamp proves that much!"

"Now the question we should be asking is why you have been lying about not being at the scene of the crime," Sonic continued on. "At the same time, we should also be thinking about why you were hiding in the warehouse and making a call. In all, this photo brings up a slew of contradictions that the defense demands to be answered!"

"…You do realize that you've delved far from what the truth of the matter is, do you? I understand how a rookie such as you would be so desperate to protect one you consider to be your friend. However, there's no denying the guilt Prosecutor Shadow has with the role he played in this heinous crime. You can't go about ignoring it."

"I never said that we were going ignore your accusation," the cobalt hedgehog corrected. "In fact, what we're planning on pursuing is going to both knock down your accusation and back up our original indictment that you are the true murderer!"

"Oh, I'd love to see you try. You've put up quite the fight thus far. Let's see how far this new piece of evidence can really take you. You may have proven that I've lied about where I was that night, but that's all you've done. If you really want to pin the murders on me, then you're going to have to do better than that!"

"I can't believe evidence like that actually existed for these past five years!" Vector growled as he picked up the pieces of his chain necklace. "Whoever gave it to you two must've thought that you could do some good with it. But still, I never thought that you would actually be able to get this far armed with the little bit of knowledge you started off with."

"I can barely believe it myself," Tails murmured as he took a deep breath. "The fact that we got this far with so little is really amazing. But now that we've finally placed Mephiles at the scene of the crime, it's time that we really pull out all the stops!"

"This is definitely going to be one rough ride from here on out," the cobalt hedgehog nodded in agreement. "Now that we're at the heart of the matter, the true battle is only just beginning. That crooked old prosecutor is running out of places to hide, and I'm going to expose them all until there's nothing left but the shell of a man who's nothing more than a heartless murderer!"

* * *

><p>Well, that's it for this chapter. The reason why I decided to separate this into two parts is because it was already a journey and a half to be able to place Mephiles at the scene of the crime! I still don't know how I managed to pull that off. To be perfectly honest, I dug myself into a really deep hole that I'm now having trouble getting out of. I still have no idea if I'll be able to successfully convict Mephiles of the murders. The next chapter is definitely going to be an interesting one for me to write.<p>

And I promise you all that the next chapter is going to be the moment when the LK-9 Incident is going to be put to rest one way or the other. Let's just hope that my brain doesn't explode and force me to write out a bad ending. Honestly, I already have a bad ending planned out in case it gets to that. Of course, I'm not going to tell you what it is or if I'm going to use it. It's just up there in case push comes to shove. Seriously, this entire story was thought up off the top of my head with little to no planning ahead. It's amazing how far I came with this considering when I first started that it was only a test run of a mystery story.

But yeah, that's enough of my ranting. I need to rest now and recover from my cold. Don't forget to leave a review telling me what you thought of this new chapter. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody! Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Thanksgivukkah!


	37. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 10

Hello everybody! You've all waited for a few months now for the final installment of this ever exciting final case, and now your patience has paid off! The coveted ending to this extravagant battle between feared veteran and greenhorn rookie is about to come to an end! Is it the bad ending that I've hinted at potentially writing out in the last author's note, or is it a completely different ending that I've managed to come up with that fit in with all the evidence discussed thus far? Just read on and figure it out for yourself.

But first, let me say that this is one of the longest chapters that I've ever written for this site. In fact, I think this is the longest chapter ever for this particular story. And that's in words for the actual story itself; it's not including the author's notes and the evidence list. Boy, that just tells you how epic my brain made this courtroom battle out to be. And rightfully so since the most ruthless man in the law is undoubtedly also the most cautious. Seriously, I made very sound arguments and finding myself giving Mephiles the ever so small loopholes to sneak through. Hopefully, that will give you a scope of how smart and careful this insane prosecutor can be. Oh, the headaches I put myself through just so I can produce a chapter worthy for all you readers. Yet at the same time, it was also loads of fun to think up.

Anyway, that's enough needless chattering on my end. I'll leave you all to read this new chapter that you've been waiting so patiently for. Don't forget to leave a review before moving on to the next story that you want to read!

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><p><strong>NOTICE:<strong> I dedicate this chapter to my dog who was born on July 5, 1999 and passed away on February 27, 2014. This chapter was supposed to be published at the end of last week. However, his sudden illness, probably a stroke of sorts since he collapsed and couldn't move his hind legs anymore (we didn't bother to officially figure it out for good reason), facilitated a visit to the vet that he would never return back from. 14 1/2 years of good human food and crazy yet lovable doggie antics, some of which got him in some typical doggie trouble. He will be sorely missed by both me and my family. Here's to you, my one-of-a-kind German Shepard Mix who seemed intent to see me as an equal rather than an authoritative household figure! I guess that's because of me being 8 when we first got him as a puppy. He probably thought I was one of his siblings this entire time and thus not really one to garner much respect beyond that! And don't ask me about what the mix is; we never bothered to get that figured out. Let's just say that he didn't look like how a typical German Shepard does in both build and fur color patterns.

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Docks. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice, the second happening during Shadow's case. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that it was also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Picture: A photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had initially received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and smiling brightly at the camera. Amazingly, his entire demeanor appears almost child-like despite his rather strong and toned body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. Just before the trial began, it was discovered that both the paper and digital forms were destroyed. Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails that detail what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career in order to watch over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room with cell phone in hand after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails that depict what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by a single mastermind. It also appears that this person is involved in the smuggling ring Interpol is investigating.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place at the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business known as the "Prycey Seafood Company". It was owned by three people and had employed one person to work on cargo duty; two of the owners were Lois and Maxwell Pryce with only a lesser percentage of the business to their name. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it was forced closed upon being in the spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witnesses found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood Company at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 Incident. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he most likely struggled with his killer prior to dying. The murder weapon was the Ornamental Cane discovered to have been in Interpol custody for the past five years. The report makes no mention of any puncture wounds being found on the body.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at a distance and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after having killed Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago that it was fired from the same Pistol that was used to kill Prosecutor Flora Mae. According to the trajectory report, it was fired in a position that would make the bullet's path parallel to the hallway.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as the "Prycey Seafood Company". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf located on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office. She then went back to the bookshelf where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, a fact that none of them were able to properly explain. As such, their statements were considered useless and shuffled away.

Leon's Statement: Testimony regarding the moments leading up to Leon's kidnapping. He entered the old Prycey Seafood Warehouse and went to the office in an attempt to collect more information with regards to either the smuggling ring or their person of interest. Before he could perform a thorough search, he was soon attacked and imprisoned in the office before the Chaotix Detective Agency found and rescued him. He mentioned that the room looked as though it had been rifled through when he came to.

Warehouse Keypad: A sophisticated password system for the door to the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. According to Salem, the security company in charge of the password is still supplying service to the building. However, the bi-annual password change is sent to only one person. It's suspected that Mephiles is the one with access to the new passwords.

Salem's Testimony: Testimony recorded during Salem's court appearance. He testified to working overtime at the warehouse from midnight until one. He made it clear that nobody left the lighthouse the moment he went out to take a look after hearing gunshots. All four employees, including himself, were scattered about the Prycey Seafood Business grounds when the police had arrived. Charles was still alive when he first approached him. He also mentioned that Maria and Charles had knowledge of the smuggling ring and believed through their last case's client that the company had ties to the ring.

Print Report: Documents the prints that were found in the warehouse office. One of them belonged to Leon and were made during his entrapment. The second set were made from gloved hands and couldn't be identified. However, the gloved prints only touched certain areas of the room and indicated that the perpetrator knew exactly where to look for what they wanted.

Warehouse Office Diagram: A blueprint of where everything in the office was. It also has markings on it which demonstrate where the gloved prints and blood were found. Two prints were found on the handles of a file cabinet situated behind the desk. Another set was found all over the wall-mount safe. There were no other gloved prints to be found. The blood was found in the center of the room where a clean spot devoid of dust was found.

Blood Analysis: A forensics report done on the blood found in the warehouse office. While it had appeared recently, a proper examination of it couldn't be done because the composition had been destroyed with bleach. The only known clean sample was taken from Leon's nails from when he wounded the perpetrator, but that alone isn't enough to prove who it belonged to due to lack of a proper culprit.

Written Statement: A letter that was written by the fourth witness five years ago at the start of the LK-9 Incident. A handwriting analysis has shown that Mephiles was the one who wrote it out.

Letter: A document found in the lighthouse basement instructing Max Pryce to murder Lois. The handwriting analysis shows that it couldn't have been Mephiles who written it out. In fact, the penmanship of the letters seem to be a mash of various writing styles and suggests the writer is well-versed in differing writing formats. The proof that it was written out by the same person is the fact that the structure of the E and S when put together are consistently the same throughout the letter.

Ornamental Cane: The weapon used to kill Charles Hedgehog five years ago. The blood found on the serpent head's teeth couldn't be properly analyzed due to the interference of an organic substance in the composition. Upon further examination of the organic substance, it was discovered to be a special type of poison obtained only through a rare breed of snake found in the forests of Mobotropolis. There is no known cure for the poison, and the one inflicted is forced into a lifetime of specialized antibiotics only accessible through prescription. Also, the poison leaves an everlasting scar from where it enters the body; a bald spot is also present on anthropomorphs with fur.

Five-Year-Old Photograph: A picture taken by Dr. Robotnik five years ago. The time stamp shows it was taken just ten minutes before the double murders occurred along with scribbles on the back saying it was taken in the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. It shows Mephiles in a dimply lit area leaning against a crate and talking on his cell phone while looking through an address book. It's believed that he might've been trying to organize a black market auction for the smuggling ring. On the ground next to him is a shiny object made obscure due to it's glint.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident. However, he knows next to nothing about the case and must learn as much as he can during the course of the trial. He wishes to try and solve the case despite the fact that expert investigators over the past five years have failed to do so.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails". Ever since proving himself to be an above average investigator during the precinct murder, he has been hired by Dr. Robotnik to be the law firm's local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct. Despite having nothing to add on the case, he's decided to watch the proceedings in the gallery. He delivered the LK-9 evidence to Vector after learning that someone had managed to destroy both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: An Interpol Agent who has decided to reveal his true identity in court in order to be granted immunity from the charges of tampering with the scene of a crime and removal of evidence. He was working undercover in the Prycey Seafood Company at the time the double-murders happened. His real name is actually "Salem".

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen. He has been cleared of murder thanks to Sonic and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident. He's prepared to be pinned as a murderer due to his fingerprints being on the Pistol that killed Maria.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident. Everything he knows about the case is through the many reports that have been documented over the past five years.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. He expects nothing but perfection in his work and condones from his opponents nothing short from a blatantly relevant question and an extremely well-based argument. Salem has pointed him out as being a person of interest for Interpol's smuggling ring; this has inadvertently turned him into a potential suspect for the LK-9 Incident.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor and help as much as he can to keep the trial going and uncover the truth behind it all.

Leukis Kruger: Salem's younger brother who's afflicted with the rare genetic disorder, Feralisis Syndrome. He also happens to be with Interpol. According to Salem, they were reunited after Leukis had managed to successfully shake off members of the smuggling ring who figured out his true identity and wanted him dead. His real name is "Leon".

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Sonic decided to pursue a career as a defense attorney.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Shadow decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor.

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness.

Charmy Bee: A young and hyper eight-year-old kid who works with Vector at the Chaotix Detective Agency. Because of Espio's arrest, he is currently the only one employed in the business at the moment. He had worked together with Leon in order to search the abandoned warehouse and procure new evidence for both Sonic and Vector to use in the LK-9 Incident.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three-year-old defense attorney of some renown who owns and runs the Robotnik Law Firm. He served as Salem's and Leon's contact in Mobius and is thus himself an agent of Interpol. He has gotten himself close to the smuggling ringleader in order to learn as much as he possibly could about their covert operations. Despite not knowing for sure, he seems to indicate in his letter his belief that Mephiles is the ringleader on top of being a high-interest suspect in the LK-9 Incident.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 37: The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt. 10<strong>

"Prosecutor Mephiles," the Judge started, his tone clearly reflecting the shock he was still feeling from the past few minutes. "I think it best that you explain exactly what it is the defense has brought against you. Not only have you been caught lying about where you were on the night of the murder; this also casts doubts on your overall involvement with the crime. If you wish to continue under the pretense that you're innocent, then I suggest that you start telling us nothing but the complete truth!"

Instead of replying with a witty comeback, the old prosecutor chose to stay quiet as his normally stoic face seemed to now hold some amount of worry. Clearly, he was not eager to be saying anything more in case he further incriminated himself.

"Don't keep us waiting," Sonic prodded in a mock tone of Mephiles's impatience. "I think I speak for everyone in here that we would like to hear the reason why you made such a blatant lie. This dead-end contradiction isn't going to resolve itself, you know?"

"…Do you honestly think that you have the right to be so smug after catching me in a so-called lie?" Mephiles growled, his arms crossed in a defensive manner. "I believe the question you've been asking me this entire time was whether or not I was at the lighthouse that evening. Suffice it to say, the picture you claim was taken on that night only serves to supplement my claims in that I was never there. As you can clearly see, that's the Prycey Seafood Warehouse I'm in with the timestamp clearly saying that I was there just a few minutes before this whole mess of a case unfolded."

"Don't think you can try to play this off as us improperly phrasing the question!" Tails quickly countered. "Everybody who's heard of this case knows that the two buildings are only minutes apart from each other. That and the warehouse itself is considered to be a part of the lighthouse since both are registered under the company name. If you were at the warehouse, then that's basically saying you were at the lighthouse as both share the same property. There isn't any loophole you can use to fight your way out of that fact!"

"That's nothing more than minor details not worth squabbling over," the old hedgehog stated definitively. "It may be true that both buildings share the same land, but that doesn't mean they're both the same. You asked if I was at the lighthouse; I answered truthfully that I wasn't with your picture proving as such."

"But you had ample opportunity to have went to the lighthouse," Vector added. "Don't forget that there's a timestamp on that Five-Year-Old Photograph which shows you were there just minutes before the murders. Since you have the proven time to have committed the crime along with those unaccounted minutes, I can't see how you can continue to comfortably argue that you never went to the scene of the crime."

"You should know better than anyone in this courtroom that evidence is everything, Prosecutor Vector. Where's the concrete piece that shows what you've said to be a possible truth? It's nothing more than a terribly weak supposition, one that I'm shocked you're even proposing to condone given your legal position."

"Still, you never once mentioned that you were within the vicinity of the lighthouse since you've been here," the cobalt hedgehog said. "Because of your failure to mention that, I ask that you testify exactly what it is you were doing there! If you really are innocent and never went to the lighthouse, then you shouldn't have any problems with this."

"I will grant the defense's request for further testimony," the old man acknowledged with a pound of his gavel. "Prosecutor Mephiles, let me remind you that you're currently under heavy scrutiny in this courtroom. If you wish to maintain your innocence, then speak nothing but the truth and omit _nothing_ from your testimony. Is that clear?"

"…Do suppositions and possibilities really play that big of a role in court proceedings now?" Mephiles murmured after a moment's silence. "I can't believe the defense actually has the entire courtroom wrapped around their little fingers. If I were the judge, I'd have thrown them out long ago!"

"Yet you're currently in front of us playing the role of witness," the two tailed fox merely stated. "I think you should be concentrating more on that rather than what it is you would like to do. Now, stop wasting time and proceed with your testimony."

_**Reason for Being in the Warehouse**_

I was in the warehouse that night in order to attend a meeting. The call the defense brought up earlier served as my reminder. It consisted of only me and a potential business client. We spent the entire evening discussing private business matters. He left about a half an hour before the murders took place. I, on the other hand, chose to stay behind for a little while. Since I was already there, I decided to take care of some work-related matters.

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"Is that really all that happened?" the Judge asked. "For your sake, I hope you haven't omitted more details that the court might find interest in."

"All I can do is answer whatever questions I'm given as best as I can," Mephiles stated curtly. "The defense happens to see it fit to pin me as a liar for merely not stating details that weren't a part of their original question. Next time, they should make sure to cover all their bases before accusing a witness of lying."

"I believe that's what they're doing now," Vector replied as he began fiddling with his headset. "All you have to do now is cooperate and answer whatever additional questions they might have with your testimony. Even I have some questions that have just now arisen after listening to what you had to say. Just do us all a favor and try not to make yourself look more like a suspect when you reply."

"The defense has already done a stellar job on their own at portraying me as such," the old man vehemently spat out.

"If neither of you mind, I would like for the defense to get on with the cross-examination now," the old man quickly said. "Not only am I curious as to what else they might uncover from this, but I'm also mindful of the time. It's already late in the afternoon, and I don't want to be carrying this over through the night."

"At least the Judge doesn't seem as impatient to call an end to the trial!" Sonic murmured under his breath to Tails. "I guess we should be thankful and use this chance to really hit that no good prosecutor where it hurts! I noticed during his testimony that he was trying to answer our questions while trying to mention as little as possible. Considering how talkative he was in our past cross-examinations, I think this is a sign we're on the right track."

"That may be true, but don't let that pull you into a false sense of security," Tails warned. "Don't forget exactly who it is we're dealing with. He might be a witness now, but Mephiles is a very experienced prosecutor. Now that we've proven he was in the lighthouse's warehouse just before the murders, he'll probably try to exploit every possible loophole he can find order to keep from properly answering our questions. When that happens, we should push back with equal or greater force in order to get him talking."

"The most I'd probably be able to muster right now is equal force," the cobalt hedgehog simply said. "Still, I've managed to get this far against the country's supposedly best prosecutor on that. I just need to keep pounding him with everything I've got until he's buried under a pile of irrefutable evidence! Now let's get ready to talk the guy to death and make him tell us more about why he was really there that night!"

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Allow me to ask what might sound to you like a stupid question," Sonic began. "Why did you call for a meeting on that particular day? Not only did the murders happened later on that night, but you had just finished handling a case. At the least, I would suspect that you were a bit tired from that alone."

"Business doesn't run on a schedule that would prove to be convenient for any one person," Mephiles curtly explained. "I had an important job to do, and that was to oversee everything that went on with the Prycey Seafood Business. If that meant I had to attend a meeting right after finishing a trial, then so be it. Whether or not I was tired has nothing to do with how I should conduct my given obligations."

"I'll admit that makes a lot of sense. Life always has a way of taking advantage of you when you least expect it. Still, it all seems a bit strange how a crime just decided to take place on the night you chose to have this meeting. What's even more interesting is how it happened not long after it had concluded. Are you sure all of this was nothing more than just an amazingly big coincidence?"

"Could you _please_ try another tactic other than trying to pressure me with nothing more than empty threats?" the old hedgehog exclaimed exasperatedly. "Unless you have the evidence to back up your words, I refuse to entertain anymore of your usual shenanigans! I have been more than patient with you throughout our time in our previous case; one could possibly consider me to be a saint after everything I've been forced to endure during this trial. But even after all that, you're starting to burn out my patience!"

"Might I advise you to pull back on your attacks for now, Mr. Sonic?" Vector suggested as he fiddled with the cord of his headset. "If you keep going at this rate, you might force our witness from the stand. I'm sure that's the last thing you want right now. Don't forget that I happen to have some interest in what he has to say about his involvement."

"Then let's start with a different question," Tails spoke up. "Prosecutor Mephiles, you mentioned in your testimony something about the phone call that we had in question earlier. You said that it served as a reminder to you of the meeting you were to have at the warehouse. However, you also mentioned when we first called you in that it was a call that kept you from going to the lighthouse. That's two completely different explanations!"

"But are they really?" the old hedgehog objected. "I know where you're going with this, so allow me to shoot you down before you even get that far.

"I'll concede to the fact that both the warehouse and lighthouse are considered to be part of the same property. However, both are different buildings which serve completely different purposes. The lighthouse is where I conduct office work while the warehouse is considered field work. As such, I never lied when I said the call was something that prevented me from going to the lighthouse. You even have the picture you presented earlier as proof of my words. So unless you want to recant the one piece of evidence that you're already using to try and pin me at the lighthouse, you can't expect to prove I was lying."

"I must agree with the witness," the Judge announced. "That Five-Year-Old Photograph does serve to supplement his claims of not being at the lighthouse. I'll admit it isn't very solid proof, but it's the best we have under the circumstances. If the defense doesn't have anything regarding to this matter, then I suggest you move on to another question."

"Umm, then how about we talk about the meeting itself?" the cobalt hedgehog quickly suggested, his mind trying to come up with relevant questions.

"I already said that private business matters were discussed during that time. I'm under no obligation to be divulging such information to this court."

"…Actually, I don't have any interests with what was discussed during it. Rather, I want you to clear something up for me. You said that the meeting only consisted of you and someone who was to be your client. I had expected that there would be more people since it was going to be all about business. Was there a reason for that or was he simply the only one able to attend at such a late hour?"

"It was late because it was the only time he was free. There was only one person whose interests I needed to catch, so I had no need for inviting more people. It would've only served to add more confusion to the already delicate process."

"But was it as private as you claimed it to be?" the fox asked. "After all, you were inside the warehouse. I'd imagine that there would probably be a couple people coming in and out if only to check up on the cargo."

"And just what purpose would it serve for me to lie about how many people were inside during the meeting? Not only is it such a frivolous matter; it also has absolutely nothing to do with what's currently being discussed!"

"Then I take it you're claiming you were all alone in there with your client," Vector calmly surmised as though Mephiles's venomous behavior did not exist. "As trivial as it may sound, this is testimony we've yet to hear. I'd like for it to be added to your official statement so that it would reflect this change."

"Please tell me you're not serious about that, Prosecutor Vector," Mephiles growled as he angrily stared at the crocodile. After a few seconds and seeing no signs of relenting, the witness let out a loud and aggravated sigh. "I can't believe you're actually desperately floundering about for information like some kind of helpless rookie. That's especially so since what I've said has only proven to be beneficial in your pursuit to prove that the defense is wasting time trying to pin the murders on me!"

"I'm sorry, but that hasn't been my goal this entire time. What I'm really after is the truth of this case that has remained buried for these past five years. I could care less whether or not the defense is merely scavenging about for more information; I've already seen more than enough today to convince me that there's merit in their want to reinvestigate this case. And since my interests happens to align with theirs, I'll be more than happy to lend them a hand in their search for relevant information. And I'll continue to do so even if it goes against the assumed role I've been given by the law to play as!"

"That was very well said, Prosecutor Vector!" the Judge stated as a small smile came to his lips after the speech was over. "It matters not what side of the law you're playing on. All that matters is that we get to the truth of the matter. Only then can we all be comfortable with whatever comes to pass no matter what the outcome may be.

"And it's on that note that I'll happily allow the prosecution's request for an addendum," he added before clearing his throat and banging his gavel. "Prosecutor Mephiles, please add the new piece of information to your official testimony."

"… …I can't believe how much of a circus the two of you have managed to transform this courtroom into!" the old hedgehog grumbled as he shamelessly rolled his eyes. Everybody did not pay any attention to his abhorrent behavior. "You actually have everyone following along with your idiotic semantics! Very well then; I'll go ahead and add what I've already said to my testimony if only to appease your terrible curiosity. I hope then that you'll all see how futile your attempts at finding the 'truth' really are."

_**New Statement**_

We were the only ones who were in the warehouse that entire evening!

_**End New Statement**_

"Why do I get the feeling that Vector was just grasping at straws when he asked for this addition?" Sonic murmured as the old hedgehog began grumbling incoherently after providing his new statement. "I'm sure even he knows how little was actually said in the testimony. Still, what Mephiles just said doesn't appear to be anything but superficial at best! I don't know what we could use in it that would be to our advantage."

"How can you be so sure that you were alone that whole time?" Tails immediately asked, completely ignoring the other in the process. "Even you must admit that it's a pretty bold claim for you to make. I doubt you made a point to keep an eye on all the entrances in case someone unexpected decided to come around."

"That's why they built an office in the warehouse," Mephiles simply stated as though the question was annoying. "It's good for those occasions when an impromptu private discussion with one of the workers is required. It was a good place to keep out meeting details from being leaked, so that's where we happened to be.

"And being that it's the warehouse office, it also had complete access to all the security cameras that were in place around the building," he quickly added. "They have since been disconnected and replaced with that password security alarm system, but there were monitors that showed the spot each camera was pointed at. They were set to give off some kind of warning when someone entered. Needless to say, that system never once activated during the entirety of our meeting."

"Forgive me for saying this, but it seems as though many things you've mentioned thus far from five years ago have since faded from existence," Vector interrupted. "First there was the cell phone that you only used for business purposes; then there was the matter with the phone records from five years ago. Now we're hearing of a security system that was active at the time of the murders but is no longer in service. If you take each of them into account of the big picture, it would almost seem like you've intentionally destroyed evidence that would prove disadvantageous to your plea of innocence."

"Think of it what you will, but I will continue to state that it's nothing more than mere coincidence," the old hedgehog replied. "I promise you that there isn't any evidence saying it was anything but that. After all, I'm sure the defense would've used it by now in their ever futile attempts at indicting me for this crime."

"Trust me; we already gave it a try during the whole phone record fiasco," the cobalt hedgehog deadpanned as he let out an annoyed sigh. "I kind of figured that trying it out again with something else would yield the same results."

"I believe that's probably the most sensible thing I've heard you say thus far. It's about time that you admitted defeat and gave up on your fruitless endeavor. Evidence is everything when you're in a court of law. You'll never be able to convince the court of your standing unless you can procure incontrovertible pieces of the truth!"

"If we're to admit defeat now, then we're basically agreeing with Mephiles in that his explanation of what happened in the warehouse can't be argued," the fox surmised as he started worrying his bottom lip. "It can't possibly be all that perfect, so there has to be something wrong that we haven't found out yet!"

"If we could just somehow prove that he and his client weren't the only ones inside the warehouse that evening, then I think we might stand a chance," the defense attorney growled as he began sifting through the evidence for any hint of a clue. "To be perfectly honest, I think that's the only thing in his testimony we can try to dispute. Still, I think Vector would've caught on to that by now if that were the case."

"Then maybe it's something so small that even he would miss it. Come on, Sonic! We need to think about everything we've learned about this case. There has to be something that doesn't fit in with what Mephiles is saying."

"…It seems as though the defense still has something they feel can be further debated," the crocodile noted, his tone clearly intrigued as to what the two were whispering about. Said two were still talking and shuffling through their list of evidence. "I can only assume that to be the case seeing as how they're merely looking through the mass of evidence. That and it's not like them to simply give up because it's what the witness wants. If you don't mind, could you share with the rest of us what it is you're thinking? I'd at least would like to know whether or not it has any bearing to the current testimony."

"Please do speak your mind if you're going to be whispering for that length of time with your assistant, Mr. Sonic," the Judge agreed as he raised a quizzical eyebrow at the defensive team. "Don't forget that despite the progress you've clearly shown thus far, I'm not too happy with the fact that the trial has gone on for this long. If you wish to continue on, then refrain from stalling and tell us what you're thinking."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"…I didn't mean to pass myself off as stalling, Your Honor," Sonic said despite clearly lying through his teeth about it. However, his eyes suddenly saw something he had forgotten thanks in part to the hectic atmosphere. "I simply remembered something and decided to review the evidence to see if my thoughts were right. It appears now that they were."

"The only thing that's right about you is the fact you're in a court of law," Mephiles scoffed without so much as a glance at the other. "Everything else appears to be nothing but a sham. Don't think I can't see through your lie that you weren't stalling."

"Whether or not I was isn't what I'm putting into question," the cobalt hedgehog coolly countered as he took out Salem's Testimony from when he took the stand as a witness. "Rather, I'm more interested in how it is that there's now a contradiction between this piece of evidence and your last statement!"

"…Well, there's something you don't see there every day," Vector stated as he took a careful look at the transcript and immediately noticed the problem. "The defense has actually pointed out to me something that I've managed to miss. Either I'm losing my touch or this case has become even more complicated than I anticipated."

"We would like to draw the court's attention to this one particular part of Agent Salem's Testimony," Tails explained. "Mephiles has stated that his client had left about thirty minutes before the murders occurred. Naturally, that would mean they weren't disturbed by anybody even when the meeting came to an end at half past twelve.

"However, Agent Salem has already testified to the contrary. If you would all look at this particular portion of his recorded testimony, he said he was working overtime in the warehouse starting from twelve until one when he heard the gunshot that killed Ms. Robotnik. This means there was somebody else in the building along with the witness and his client while the meeting was still underway!"

"Is this true?_!_" the Judge exclaimed as the entire gallery went in an uproar upon hearing this revelation. "Prosecutor Mephiles, you will explain yourself this instant!"

"I don't know what the defense is trying to get at, but I've stated nothing but the truth," the old hedgehog merely replied with his lips tight. "The evidence they just presented seems to me like it could use a bit more polishing before it can be properly used. Shouldn't you be putting that Interpol Agent's character into question before you start trying to use his testimony against me? After all, I've heard that he made an effort to keep his identity hidden while he was in here until it was uncovered by the defense."

"Unfortunately, he's already proven himself to be a reliable witness after having provide us with ample proof that he was working with Interpol," the fox quickly countered. "He's even proved that he was working with them five years ago. That's more than enough for us to see him as a reliable witness.

"However, every contradiction that we've unearthed in your testimonies have given us no reason to think the same of you. I'll admit that most of them have been flimsy at best, but even you have to admit that the last two have been very damaging to your credibility. And it's on that note that I ask you explain why it is you claim nobody was in the warehouse during your meeting when Salem had arrived sometime during it!"

"Have you ever stopped to consider the fact that I might've simply failed to see or hear him come in? The meeting was rather intense in nature, so I'm bound to have heard nothing except for what was being discussed."

"We would've considered it had you not just now contradicted yourself yet again!" Sonic countered. "Did you really just forget about what you said concerning being able to receive life feed from the security cameras that were installed then? I believe you also mentioned there being some kind of alert sent to the office when someone comes in. You were quite adamant when you said they were working and never went off, so are we now supposed to interpret that as another convenient little lie?"

"Or is it that you're merely trying to cover up something you don't want this court to know about?" the crocodile added. "I've had my suspicions for a while that you might've been holding out on us. With the rise of this most recent contradiction, I'm now positive that you're desperately trying to hide something. The question before us now is what exactly is it? I don't suppose you're willing to tell us?"

"…There's nothing for me to tell," Mephiles murmured. His unusually quiet voice was clearly indicative that he was slowly starting to fall apart. "I've nothing to hide. I've told the truth in that nobody ever entered the warehouse while I was hosting the meeting. If that agent really did come in to conduct work, then he must've used another means of entering that no normal person would consider. After all, he could quite possibly have in his arsenal at the time some fancy gadgets to help make sneaking around easier."

"Uh, Salem's only an Interpol agent; he's not some kind of international super spy," the cobalt hedgehog deadpanned. "However, that's not what we're here to discuss. What I want to know now is where exactly in the warehouse you were at from between midnight and one that night. If there really were a set of cameras in the office, then it's clear you weren't in there like you had claimed!"

"Or perhaps you weren't even in the warehouse when you had your supposed meeting," Tails suggested in an off-hand fashion. "Salem was working as the warehouse's cargo manager at the time. That meant he would've had access to most parts of the building. He had a whole hour before the murder to do his work, but he never once mentioned running into you. If he didn't see you despite having been there for as long as he was, then I feel it easy to conclude that you weren't where you say you were."

"… … …I must admit that you, for once, actually managed to come up with a rather valid argument," the old hedgehog surprisingly admitted in a nonchalant tone. "If you are to have full trust in that agent's words, then it would stand to reason that I was most likely not in the warehouse that evening. After all, the picture you presented earlier merely shows I was there just minutes before the murder took place. It's hardly grounds for me to then be claiming I was there since the moment the meeting began."

"Are we supposed to be taking this as an admission on your part?" the fox asked with an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Were you, in fact, not at the warehouse for the time that you've already specified to us?"

"I've never said anything of the sort. The only thing I've admitted was that you made a rather solid foundation for an argument. The amount of evidence proving your argument to be a fact is another thing altogether. As I've already mentioned, the picture only shows where I was just before the crime occurred. You've yet to present anything to prove just where it was you believe I was at prior. Unless you can come up with it, you can't claim that I wasn't at the warehouse simply because I failed to notice the agent's arrival."

"If there's insufficient evidence, then we'll simply have to go about this in another way," Vector suggested as he took off his headset and began to clean his badge. "How about we hear you testify about why it's impossible for you to have been anywhere else but the warehouse that night? You've already admitted the defense's argument on that point is good and that they provided evidence that doubts your claim. You're not one to easily admit to anything much less that the defense has posed a well-constructed argument. That leads me to believe you have some way of countering them."

"With this much controversy over the topic, I feel that it's the most prudent course of action," the Judge admitted as he slammed his gavel. "Prosecutor Mephiles, please tell us why we should believe that you were in the warehouse for the entire evening."

Without bothering to make a counter, the old prosecutor merely crossed his arms in silent defiance. It was clear he was not willing to provide further testimony.

"Do I have to remind you that you're currently under some suspicion due to the mass of contradictory remarks against you?" the crocodile asked in response to the silence. "Your best chance at reversing whatever damage has been done to your character is to provide us with your counterargument. To be more precise, provide us with a reason to believe that you had your meeting in the warehouse."

"…Do I really have no choice in the matter?" Mephiles growled out. "Fine, I'll testify about this matter. Just know that the answer might not be what you want to hear, but you can't change what I know to be the truth."

"What you say and what you know are completely different things," Sonic said. "Stop providing us with contradictions when you testify and we might start viewing your way of things as the truth."

_**I was at the Warehouse!**_

The meeting was held inside the warehouse office! I fail to see how that Interpol agent having not seen me while on the job would be of any importance. We simply could've missed each other. Nevertheless, you haven't provided a single piece of evidence that shows I wasn't there. If you can't prove that I'm wrong, then you're merely wasting your time!

_**End Testimony**_

"That…was quite an unusual testimony for you to make," the Judge replied with a frown. "I must say that this sounds more akin to what regular witnesses would say when there's a lack of evidence to go on."

"Yet that is exactly the hand that I've been dealt with, Your Honor," Mephiles simply responded. "As a prosecutor, I must learn when to admit that there isn't a whole lot of evidence to work with. This happens to be one of those times where evidence proving my way of things to be true just doesn't exist. Because of this setback, I've been forced to submit testimony that is subpar at best."

"Then how do you expect us to just accept your testimony the way it is?" Sonic argued. "All you've done is set us up for failure. The point of this was so that we could discern whether or not you were telling the truth!"

"And we're still able to do that, Mr. Sonic," Vector quickly cut in. "I'll admit that the witness hasn't answered the question the way we wanted him to, but there are some things he mentioned that are still debatable. Considering how things have gone thus far, I think it'd be wrong of us to not at least look further into it."

"Not to mention that some of his claims still lack the proven backing for us to consider without looking past the face value of what was said," Tails added before turning his attention towards the witness. "For a man like you who always strives for only the perfect testimony, I find it odd how you merely said the bare minimum in order to satisfy the current topic. That along with your known behavior of being so stringent with details is enough for us to want to scrutinize what you said!"

"Uh, you guys do know that I only said he was making it harder for us to see if he was telling the truth," the cobalt hedgehog deadpanned after receiving what amounted to be a pep talk from both the fox and crocodile. "I never said I didn't know what I should be concentrating on or what I'm supposed to do."

"Well, we just figured you needed a little push in the right direction," the fox stated with a shrug. "We have been at this for the entire day; I'm surprised you haven't sounded as tired as I thought you would."

"Isn't this a touching moment?" the old hedgehog sarcastically observed. "The assistant is worried for his mentor's well-being. You two would probably make good cast members for a courtroom drama show."

"Anyway, let's get back to the point at hand," the crocodile said with a clearing of his throat. "Drama show or not, we've got a job to finish."

"Yes, the defense should get on with their cross-examination," the old man agreed with a nod of his head. "As much as I want this trial to be over with, I must admit that I'm curious as to what you'll uncover next."

"I suggest that you don't go treating me as a medium for your curiosity, Your Honor. I can't see how you'll be able to render impartial judgment with that mindset."

"I don't think I could possibly be impartial after everything that's been discussed today, Prosecutor Mephiles. All I can do now is hope that what the defense might uncover through your testimony doesn't uproot one of the most powerful prosecutors in the state!"

"Well, I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult."

"How about you take it as neither and concern yourself with what we might ask of you during our cross-examination?" the fox quickly interrupted. "I'm not really up for prolonging this case any longer than it has been. It's time to see what else you're hiding behind loosely constructed words."

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Let's go ahead and get started then," Sonic agreed as he began to formulate his opening question. "Prosecutor Mephiles, why do you keep insisting that we spend more time checking up on Agent Salem's Testimony? I'll admit that I might be reading too much into this, but it seems as though you always use him as a scapegoat when things start going bad."

"Well, you did only call me in here based on what he said," Mephiles reminded. "If it weren't for that, then I'm sure none of you would've ever considered asking me to testify. In fact, I believe you all admitted when I first came here that you jumped the gun upon hearing my name be mentioned as a tie-in to this case. I think that's basis enough to put him into question considering he's the only reason why I'm here."

"And like we've said before, his character has already been tested by us and proven to be reliable," the cobalt hedgehog countered back. "He's had his share of accusations of being tied in with the murders, but he managed to prove us wrong on that accord and thus earned our trust. You've yet to achieve that with us, so that's why I find it suspect that you always play it off that Agent Salem is somehow to blame for your problems now."

"As if that's enough to simply use his words against my own," the old hedgehog scoffed. "Evidence is everything in court. Just because a witness's words have been made in a courtroom and is thus certified doesn't mean it's automatically a good piece of evidence. You must have something that can back up their words. As far as I'm concerned, you've yet to show me any that does such a thing."

"Well, he did provide us with the weapon used to kill Detective Charles Hedgehog," Tails replied in a thoughtful manner. "And on top of that, he also told us his reasoning for having removed key evidence from the scene. Because of his undercover status and the job he was working on then, it gave him legal reason to do so. Everything he's mentioned has been the truth, so that in itself is proof enough of his reliability."

"So allow me to reiterate the defense's original question," Vector stated bluntly. "Why do you keep calling into doubt Agent Salem's Testimony? We've already knocked down your claim of unreliability, so there must be another reason."

"…Unfortunately for you, I had no reason other than that. Now that you've thoroughly explained to me why he's so trustworthy, I can admit that I've no longer any reason to cast doubt on his person."

"However, that doesn't mean I'm going to admit I was wrong on every contradiction where I used that defense," the witness quickly stated. "Even had I not went that route, you've yet to provide evidence that properly substantiates those claims. Some of them were actually true on my part, and you've yet to convince me otherwise why they can't be."

"Then let's move onto something else that we can currently put under proper scrutiny," Sonic quickly suggested. "How can you be so sure whether or not Agent Salem having seen you isn't important? At the least, both of your testimonies contradict each other! That in itself is something that you should explain!"

"Unfortunately for you, he's already provided us with an explanation," the Judge stated. "I'll admit that it's not in as much detail as we would like, but Prosecutor Mephiles has already made mention of simply missing him. Since you're so insistent on this point, do you have any evidence which proves this is of any importance?"

"I wouldn't be this persistent if I had the evidence on me. This I why I'm asking for further explanation on his part."

"And I refuse to provide you with such testimony. I've already provided you with what you originally wanted; it's your obligation to prove to me and the court your reasoning for wanting to hear more. Since you've already admitted that you don't have the evidence to do so, I'm under no obligation to be submitting to your demands."

"But it's safe for us to infer that you weren't in the warehouse office for the entirety of the meeting," Tails quickly pointed out. "If there was a security system in place five years ago set up the way you described, then there's no reason why you would've missed Agent Salem's entrance into the warehouse. As such, you must've been somewhere else even for a couple minutes at the time he came by. That's an inconsistency proven by your own words and must be further explained!"

"…I suppose I do owe you that much considering how it would serve to explain how we missed each other," the old prosecutor replied while letting out a sigh. "Very well; here's my reason for not being in the office at that moment."

_**New Statement**_

I was giving my client a small tour of the warehouse when it was around midnight.

_**End New Statement**_

"And you still managed to miss seeing Agent Salem as you and your client were moving around?" Vector asked with a skeptical eyebrow raised. "Exactly where was it you decided to provide this exclusive tour?"

"Only the packaging department," Mephiles replied. "He didn't want to see much apart from how we went about packaging our goods. And just so you know, that part of the building is located towards the back. There is an entrance there, so we would've noticed if Salem had entered through there. We then headed back to the office to conclude our meeting. And yes, we missed seeing each other during the trek back."

"…As much as I want to say it all sounds way too convenient, I'll admit that what you said is pretty reasonable," Sonic begrudgingly admitted. "However, wouldn't it be possible that Agent Salem first stopped by your office? I'm sure he would've wanted to confirm with you the details of his overtime assignment."

"That's simply impossible," the old hedgehog quickly shot down. "To get to the office, one must first walk up a set of stairs to get to the door. Anybody inside the warehouse would be able to see if anybody was on the railing, and I clearly saw nobody. And it's also not possible that he was waiting inside the office. I always make it a point to lock it up when I'm out. I'm the only one with the key to the room. That's how it was five years ago, and it's still under the same guidelines even with the company under new management."

"I would assume you do that because of the important documents that you housed in there," Tails thought aloud. "I'm sure it wouldn't be good if they suddenly went missing while you were out doing what you needed to do."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"…Wait a minute!" Sonic suddenly exclaimed, his eyes alit in sudden realization. His tone startled everyone and drew their attention towards him. "If you're the only one with a key to the warehouse office now, then that provides us with a rather damning piece of information that we can use against you!"

"My, I've never seen you get this fired up so quickly over nothing," Mephiles said, his intrigue clear in his words as he actually looked interested at what was being said. "If you really feel that strongly about it, then explain to me exactly how the circumstances regarding the office can be used to your advantage."

"You weren't here when we made mention of this, but Agent Salem had been looking for his brother Leon who had went missing for the past few days," the cobalt hedgehog bluntly explained. "Coincidentally, he also happened to be his partner in their smuggling investigation. So on both a personal and professional front, he needed to figure out where his brother was. Needless to say, he was found just last night by the Chaotix Detective Agency locked in the Warehouse's office. And that's where I'll base my current argument!

"Salem's little brother told us that he had picked the lock and closed the door behind him so nobody would notice he was inside. It was only a few moments after that did he mentioned being attacked from behind and knocked out. He was then locked in and left there until he was rescued. It was never directly mentioned, but I'm willing to bet that somebody barred the door from the other side to prevent him from leaving. The only way I can someone following him into the office even after having closed it was if that person had the office key. Now what did we just hear you testify about with regards to the key?"

"Are you trying to say that I was the one who assaulted the agent's partner simply because I'm the only one with a key to the office?" the old hedgehog asked in an incredulous tone. "I'll admit the part about the key is true, but how's that enough for you to say that I'm responsible for both assault and unlawful imprisonment? You seem to be overstretching this particular point a bit too far. I mean, there still stands the chance that I had lost the key at some point which then granted the true perpetrator access to the office. And dare I even mention that this has absolutely nothing to do with me being at the warehouse five years ago?"

"Seeing as how we've yet to uncover anything else on that particular matter, I think we're ready to concede that you were there all those years ago," Tails responded as he looked at Sonic who nodded in agreement. "However, our admission doesn't mean we'll also back off on our current claim. Do you have evidence that proves when it was you say you lost the key? Don't forget that we can have Agent Salem testify about when his brother first went missing, so I suggest you think about providing us with a truthful answer."

"Humph, I never directly said that I lost possession of that key. I was merely raising the possibility of such a thing happening since you seemed so fixated on the idea that I was the one responsible for the agent's partner's unlawful incarceration."

"Judging by how you worded your response, it sounds like you never lost your key when the incident took place," Vector concluded. "If that's so, then it sounds like the defense's claims of you attacking and trapping an Interpol Agent is the truth. However, I'll keep an open mind and give you the chance to defend yourself against these accusations. Of course, that's taking into consideration that you do have some way of creating a defense."

"I think the lack of evidence is enough to prove the invalidity of the defense's claims. If that agent was able to break into the office by merely picking the lock, then what's stopping other people from doing the same thing? I'm sure even the rookies can see how the amount of potential suspects would dramatically increase with that revelation."

"That does make a lot of sense," the Judge admitted as he seemed to side with the witness on this. "Considering that the warehouse office door requires a conventional key to open, it's not too far of a stretch to say that somebody managed to make their way in right after Agent Salem's partner did. Under that light, the matter revolving whether or not Prosecutor Mephiles had the key on him at the time of the agent's imprisonment holds no importance."

"…That part may be true, but it requires more than just a conventional key to enter that office," Sonic countered after giving it a bit of thought. He then took a piece of paper that held the information regarding the Warehouse Keypad and placed it on the projector for all to see. "Don't forget that one would need to bypass the keypad lock outside before being allowed entrance into the warehouse itself. As we've already discussed some time ago, we learned that Prosecutor Mephiles is the only one who has access to the codes. Therefore, he's the only one who had the chance to imprison Agent Leon in that office!"

"Ah, I think I see where you're going with this," the crocodile responded, clearly intrigued with where this line of thinking was headed. "Let me try and piece together what might be your interpretation of the facts. Agent Leon decided to break into the warehouse in search of some information regarding the smuggling case. Using tools given to him by Interpol, he hacked into the keypad in order to gain entrance. As he did that, the witness took note of him from wherever he was and used the password to quickly follow suit. When he saw the agent loitering in the office, he knocked him out before making sure the door couldn't be opened from the inside. Is that the explanation you were going for, Mr. Sonic?"

"Heh, it looks like I wasn't the only one to come to the same conclusion," the cobalt hedgehog confirmed with a curt nod. "When you consider all the facts before us, it's the only scenario that makes perfect sense. And the only person able to fit the role of suspect in all this is you, Prosecutor Mephiles!"

When all the explanations were over, the gallery immediately started talking loudly amongst themselves. If they were not already confused with what today's proceedings had led to, then they were really confused now.

"Order in the court!" the old man shouted over the noise of both the chatter and the banging of his gavel. "Prosecutor Mephiles, do you have anything you wish to say or present so as to refute these claims? I'm sure I don't need to remind you just how serious the crime of assault and unlawful imprisonment can be!"

"Once again, the defense's lack of decisive evidence is basis for my defense," Mephiles calmly countered back. "All they've done is produce a likely scenario that may or may not have happened. Where's the evidence that proves what they claim is really the truth?"

"If its evidence you want, then that's what you're going to get!" Tails countered back as he replaced the info on the Warehouse Keypad with the Warehouse Office Diagram. "After the last recess was over but before we called you back in to testify, we discussed about what was found in the office. The only things that were worth jotting down were a set of gloved prints found only in certain parts of the room and a very recent bloodstain. This was indicated by the relatively clean patch of floor in comparison to other dusty portions of the room. Unfortunately for detectives, they weren't able to conduct a proper test of the blood due to the fact that it was cleaned with a kind of bleaching agent."

"If that's the case, then why are you bothering to show me details regarding their fruitless investigation?" the old hedgehog asked in mild annoyance. "You said you were going to show me evidence, but you seem to have only dug yourself into a big hole."

"Oh, I assure you that this diagram merely serves to open myself up to what I really have in mind," the young fox continued before replacing the diagram with the Blood Analysis report. "While it's true that the assailant took precautions to erase any signs that they were there, he failed to clean one important spot. Namely, that was Agent Leon's fingernails where traces of his attacker's blood existed and was left unmarred from the bleach. Forensics has managed to garner a clean sample of its composition, so we in turn have information as to who the one responsible for assaulting and imprisoning the agent is."

"And this all leads us to the one thing that can show that everything we've mentioned is the truth," the defense attorney concluded as he crossed his arms in confidence. "Prosecutor Mephiles, would you please submit to this court a sample of your blood? If we're to compare the report on the Blood Analysis with the theory we've presented, then we require that you at least lend us a small modicum of your cooperation."

"And before you answer, let me tell you a little something regarding all this," Vector added. All Mephiles did was stand still while having only an unreadable expression pasted on his face. "If you choose to refuse to cooperate with the defense's request, then I'll go ahead and petition the courts to make you conform to the blood test. I'm very confident that the court will entertain my request to make you cooperate. I believe that they have presented enough evidence to support the idea that it's more likely than not you're the one responsible for assaulting and imprisoning an Interpol Agent. With that out of the way, will you or will you not willingly cooperate with us and present a bit of your blood for comparison?"

Instead of providing them with an answer, the old hedgehog kept quiet and betrayed no emotions in his facial features. However, he also showed no signs of outwardly voicing his refusal at being subjected to a blood test. He continued to stay quiet for a few seconds more before the Judge finally decided to break the silence.

"…I'll take the silence as the witness's consent to the test," he concluded while banging his gavel. "Even had he said no, I would've side with the prosecution's request in having to forcibly have him comply. Bailiff, would you please escort the witness to one of our medical officers so we can draw some of his blood for a test?"

"You don't have to waste your time drawing my blood," the old hedgehog quickly said before the bailiff even took a step towards him. "I doubt it'd be able to serve you much help in the case at this point."

"A-Are you actually conceding then that you're the one responsible for Agent Leon's imprisonment a few days ago?_!_" the Judge exclaimed. To say that he along with the rest of the courtroom were shocked would be a complete understatement. "Refusing to have your blood drawn as evidence even after court demand is as good as an admission!"

"Oh, I think you misinterpreted the meaning of my words, Your Honor," he snidely stated while pulling at the cuffs of his gloves. "I'm nowhere near admitting anything that would grant the defense the satisfaction of 'having got the better of me' in this. Rather, I would like to throw back at them a rather important question that they seem to be ignoring."

"Are you seriously still intent on trying to fight back?" Sonic groaned. "Why can't you just learn to give up? What else are you going to try shoving down our throats in an attempt to get out of this mess?"

"If there was blood discovered inside the office, then that would mean that somebody's blood was spilled. Obviously, the Interpol Agent wasn't injured in such a fashion. On that note, it would mean that the suspect was the one to have sustained open wounds. With that in mind, I ask of this court one simple question. Is there any indication on me that I've been involved with a fight and sustained open wound injuries? Find the answer to that and you'll see how much of a waste of time the defense has taken in pursuing this."

"Gah, I forgot about that!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as the revelation hit him like a ton of bricks. "If Agent Leon has the suspect's blood on his nails, then he must've been able to puncture some skin. And if it were you, the injury would be very apparent since the fur around the wound would have temporarily fallen out while it heals over!"

"Exactly. And since you don't see any kind of loss of fur on me, you can't keep saying that I was the one responsible for the warehouse incident a few days ago. And since there's that discrepancy, the prosecution can't petition the courts to have me forcibly comply with their demands to have my blood tested. All in all, every one of you have failed to present the one piece of evidence that binds your arguments!

"And do I even have to mention how much of a waste of time chasing after this thought is?" the witness added. "The last time I checked, I was called in here to testify about what I knew in the incident five years ago. This current topic regarding how an Interpol Agent was imprisoned has nothing to do with any of that. Not only have you accused me of yet another crime you've yet to present ample evidence of, but you also managed to mislead the court down the wrong path for the past few minutes. I do hope you have something to help you out of this since clearly wasting the court's time is a punishable offense to both you and Prosecutor Vector for improper courtroom etiquette."

"Hey, don't forget that we only strayed to current events due to a contradiction that was present in your last testimony!" the crocodile quickly shot back as he tried to defend both his and the defense's actions. Both Sonic and Tails were too surprised at what the claim brought up to properly defend themselves. "Because of that, we both have some right to explore something that was off-topic due to the potential connection it posed."

"That may be true, but it still doesn't erase the initial problem Prosecutor Mephiles has brought up," the Judge reminded as he banged his gavel in order to quell the gallery chatter. "I don't think that we can tie him into the Interpol Agent's imprisonment when there's the lack of any open wound injuries on his body. I may be getting on in years, but even I can clearly see from here that he hasn't suffered any recent injuries."

"Th-Then perhaps he found some way to hide it!" the defense attorney exclaimed as he tried to find some way to explain his way out of this new mess. "Maybe he just glued on some fake fur over his wounds so we wouldn't be able to see it."

"That may cover it up, but I can't imagine how hard it'd be for the wound to properly heal over," the old man simply replied. "That and I don't believe having glue on you for long periods of time would be healthy for the skin."

"Are you still content with saying I somehow managed to hide a wound that would be obvious to all who saw me?" Mephiles chidingly questioned. "If so, then you better come up with something better than the idea I glued fake fur on. After all the theoretic scenarios that flew from your mouth, I was expecting something better than that."

"W-We need to think about this for a moment, Sonic!" Tails quickly suggested, his tone indicating that he was also having trouble coming up with a suitable answer. "If we're to believe that Mephiles was at the warehouse and thus responsible for Leon's imprisonment, then there has to be some kind of injury on his body. Something like that would easily be noted on his person at just a glance. Obviously, we haven't seen anything like that the entire time he's been on the stand. If he really managed to hide the wound, then the question we need to answer is where exactly he was wounded. Is there a part of his body that he managed to cover up without having it be considered suspicious to us?"

Mulling over the fox's words in his head, Sonic rapidly thought of all the possible ways the witness would be able to cover up such an obvious wound. Considering that he was not the type of person to wear clothes over his fur, it stood to reason that his injuries would most likely not be out in the open. As such, there must be a part of his body that he had not been able to see this entire time due to some kind of obstruction. The only question running through his mind now is where exactly on Mephiles' body would this place be?

"Mr. Sonic, I think you've had more than enough time to think this over," the Judge said after letting a few moments of silence pass by. "I'd like for you to give the court an answer to this now. Do you have any evidence that Mephiles was injured and thus proves that he was the one responsible for Agent Leon's unlawful imprisonment a few days ago?"

"… … …I think I do, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog replied after stalling for a few more seconds. "It's a bit of a long shot, but it still poses a possibility of proving the witness was injured by Leon that day."

"It seems like you're able to pull off yet another amazing feat," Vector amusedly said as he kept his eyes reflecting high expectations on the hedgehog. "Then let's hear what you have to say. What's your proof that shows everything we've worked on in regards to the Interpol Agent kidnapping incident is the truth?"

"The proof I'm looking for can only be found on Prosecutor Mephiles' own body! I'm more than convinced that he was the one attacked by Leon during the scuffle, so it has to be somewhere on him. Naturally, I was a bit confused as to how he was able to hide such an obvious wound from the world. When I thought about it, I realized that he must've hid it in a way so that none of us would ever consider the obstruction to be suspicious. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, just take a look at the witness's gloves to understand what I'm saying."

"Th-That's right!" the young fox exclaimed once his mind made the connection. "Since the day Sonic and I first met him in this courtroom, he's always had his gloves on. I suspect that it's a part of his regular attire seeing how nobody made a single comment on it. If that's true, then it wouldn't be impossible for a man like him to hide such an obvious wound if it were on one of his hands!"

"Heh, you two are merely grasping at straws!" the old prosecutor bit back despite the bit of panic in his hands as he fiddled with his gloves' cuffs. "You have no evidence to suggest that I was even the one responsible for this imprisonment charade. Surely you're not going to ask me to take off my gloves simply to satisfy one of your many roundabout bits of curiosity? If so, then I refuse to comply with such baseless demands!"

"Unfortunately for you, I don't see their demands to be as baseless as you paint them out to be," the crocodile calmly countered. Despite keeping a stoic tone, he was trying his best to hide the urge to exclaim out of excitement for having such a good lead open up. "The defense has already given proper explanation as to why it's most likely you who was responsible. Only the person who had direct access to the codes for the Warehouse Keypad would've been able to follow Agent Leon right after he had hacked his way in. And since you've already testified earlier today that you're the only one to have any knowledge of the codes, it's more likely than not that you were fully involved in the assault on an Interpol Agent.

"And if we were to look further into this matter, I think I'm comfortable saying that you were also responsible for robbing the office," he continued on as he posted the Print Report on his projector. "There were a set of unidentifiable prints found in the room. The one thing that stood out about them was that they were found only in certain areas of the office. This indicates that the person knew what they were looking for and where they wound be. Only someone who often went there would be privy to such information, and that leads us back to you. Even if all of this isn't exactly conclusive to the fact that you did it, it's enough to petition the courts to make you remove your gloves and see if your hands have sustained any injuries."

"And I second that thought," the Judge excitedly agreed before banging his gavel. "I'm more than confident that the evidence presented thus far gives weight to Prosecutor Mephiles having had played some role in the assault. As such, I ask that he remove his gloves and show us his hands immediately lest he wants to face obstruction charges."

For a few moments, the entire courtroom stood quiet as they waited for Mephiles to make his next move. Even the old hedgehog stood still as he seemed to shuffle through many possible scenarios in his mind. Either that or he was reluctant to finally admit defeat after having fought back as hard as he good from the defense's persistent attacks.

Without saying a word, he soon made a move to remove both his gloves. It only took two swift movements of his hands before they became visible for everyone to see. On the back of his left hand, there were three distinct lines that looked a lot like scratch marks. They were still in the process of healing and thus appeared to have been recently made. His right hand also looked like it had sustained some kind of injury, but it did not look as though it had any kind of relations to the current matter.

"So that's where you were hiding your injuries!" Sonic exclaimed, not bothering to mask the triumphant tone behind his words. "Looks like you suffered from some serious scratches to your left hand recently. Now that we've seen this much, I don't think you'll have any objections to having your blood be drawn and compared to the Blood Analysis report. If both prove to be the same, then we have irrefutable evidence that you are guilty of both assault and unlawful imprisonment! Since they were committed against an officer of the law, the charges will be worse than they would if it were an ordinary citizen. And if Prosecutor Vector's suspicions about you robbing the office also holds true, then we can tag on a charge of larceny! So why don't you save us all the trouble of going through the pains of further investigating related evidence and finally admit to your crimes?"

True to his typical antics, Mephiles merely stood quiet as he stared down the cobalt hedgehog with an unreadable expression. He did not bother to put his gloves back on and instead rubbed his hands along his injuries. Clearly, he was in deep thought about something and not about to make a move until he came to a conclusion.

"Say something!" both the hedgehog and crocodile demanded in unison. Then the crocodile asked, "Are you or are you not going to confess to your guilt?"

"… … …I don't see how my answer will serve to help you in solving the real problem presented in this trial," the old hedgehog finally responded as he crossed his arms in a heavily defiant manner. "Have you all already forgotten that this was originally conducted so as to uncover the mysteries that surrounded both Detective Charles' and Maria Robotnik's deaths? Whether or not I confess to having assaulted an Interpol Agent is completely irrelevant. The fact remains that whatever comes of this issue has no relations to the LK-9 Incident. Therefore, I don't have any obligations to be answering any further on the subject! All I will answer at this moment are issues relevant to the LK-9 Incident, although I suspect you don't have any since you've spent all your time on this trivial point."

"You've got to be kidding me!_!_!" the defense attorney shouted, causing the gallery to go in an uproar once more. "You can't just go about changing the subject like that!"

"And yet I believe I just did. I don't care if this current issue came about due to some supposed contradiction you've unearthed in my testimony; these current events have nothing to do with what transpired five years ago! The only reason you moved onto this was most likely because you and your assistant have nothing else to pin the double murders on me and have decided to get me for something else.

"Also, you've yet to disprove my claim that it was actually Prosecutor Shadow who was responsible for, at the least, Ms. Robotnik's murder. You've kept indicating that both murders were conducted by one person and have used it as your basis to say he's innocent. You haven't shown how it's impossible for there to be a second murderer, so you can't continue with your claim that I'm the guilty man in that incident. As such, my earlier claims that Shadow is at least responsible for one of the deaths holds firm. Is that not the truth, Mr. Sonic?"

"Of course it isn't! Although I do admit I have nothing else that'll work against you," he added in an undertone so as not to be heard. He then began to silently confer with Tails. "We need to think of something quick! The last piece of testimony he provided was in regards to him being at the warehouse, but we've already conceded to the fact that his testimony was the truth. There's nothing else we can ask him when there's no more contradictions!"

"Then we need to look harder!" Tails whispered back as he refused to be taken down after having gone this far. "If we're to agree that everything in his past testimonies are the truth, then there has to be something wrong between the facts and evidence. The situation has changed considerably from when we first started questioning him, so we need to recheck our evidence once more to see if it's all right. If we're to believe that Shadow is innocent and Mephiles is the one responsible for both murders, then there has to be something we missed!"

"…As much as I hate to say this, I have to side with the witness," Vector begrudgingly admitted after having spent a few moments thinking on everything that has happened. "We've strayed far from the original intent of this trial. He has no need to make any more statements regarding the assault and kidnapping charge here. I feel that we've already amassed enough evidence to hold a separate hearing where he'll have no choice but to provide an answer. Aside from that, I'll admit I don't have any further evidence that can supplement my suspicions of him being the perpetrator in the LK-9 Incident."

"I'll take it then that you're pulling back on your claim, Prosecutor Vector?" the Judge asked after having finally quiet down the gallery. All he received in response was a nod from said prosecutor. "It sounds as though that the prosecution rests their case. And how about you, Mr. Sonic? Do you have anything else you wish to present that has any correlation with proving who is responsible for whose murder in the LK-9 Incident? If you haven't anything, then I'll be forced to call an end to this trial."

_Like I can just say no after having come this far,_ he thought while desperately trying to sift through all the evidence in search for the one that would give him the miracle he needed. He then said aloud while still frantically searching, "Uh, I do have something that might have some connection with the LK-9 Incident. I just need a moment to find it."

"Are you sure you're not merely trying to stall for time you don't have?" the old man questioned with an eyebrow raised in doubt. "I hope for your sake that this isn't the case. If you really do have evidence, then I ask that you present it now. Just remember that it better be good or I won't be entertaining whatever explanation you have behind it."

"Please tell me you weren't just trying to bluff your way out of this mess," the young fox groaned. Clearly, he had no idea if there was anything that could help them at this point. "The last thing we need now is trouble for committing perjury."

"I don't know if I have any evidence, but there is something I feel can still be debated," the defense attorney answered both his partner and the Judge. He failed to find any evidence that could help, so he went with the next best thing. "Do you remember how the back of Prosecutor Mephiles' right hand also had an injury on it? I'm proposing that he sustained the damage five years ago while in the process of murdering someone. I'll admit that it's a pretty slim lead I'm chasing, but it's also the last one we've yet to fully discuss!"

"And what evidence do you feel can adequately prove I sustained this injury at that moment in time?" Mephiles asked as he raised his right hand for the entire courtroom to see. Now that they had a clear view of it, the injury consisted of what looked to be two puncture wounds just a few centimeters apart from each other. "If you insist on floundering about, then at least present even an improper piece of evidence to make it sound somewhat convincing. Then again, I doubt you're even able to muster that much at this point."

"I'm afraid that you're on your own for this one, Mr. Sonic," the crocodile said in an apologetic tone. "I can't think of anything that could help supplement the new concerns you've brought up. Unless you can present something that can convince me this is worth pursuing, I'm forced keep my accusation that was alongside yours withdrawn."

"As much as I want to help you here, I can't," the fox admitted in the same apologetic tone. "If there is something in the evidence that works, then I'm probably too stressed out to figure it out. But like I said earlier, I hope you're not just trying to bluff your way out of this while having nothing to work with."

_Yeesh, Tails really knows me all too well,_ Sonic thought as he could barely contain the nervous chuckle that threatened to leave his throat. He then returned to desperately sifting through the evidence. _Still, I can't just say I've got nothing after having fought so damn long against Mephiles. I know that he's the one responsible for my uncle's and Maria's deaths, so there has to be evidence that says the same thing! If even Vector and Tails can't help me out, then it must be something really obscure. Maybe I can get somewhere if I knew what it was that gave him the injury, but I have no idea where to even start! Come on, brain; of all the times to be coming up with miraculous explanations, now's the time for a big one!_

"…It seems as though the defense doesn't have anything further they wish to add," the Judge said after allowing a few seconds of silence to pass by. "As such, I'll take this as their cue to withdraw their indictment. In that case, I believe it's time to…"

"Objection, Your Honor!" the cobalt hedgehog interjected so loudly that his voice kept echoing for a couple seconds after the fact. He had stopped flipping through the evidence and had his hand resting on top of one. "I never said I was going to withdraw my indictment. In fact, I think I've just found something that'll help supplement my newest lead!"

"Is that so," Vector replied in nothing short of amazement. Mephiles merely stood quiet as he waited for what was to be said next. "If that's true, then perhaps it's time to see if you've truly earned your spot in the courtroom. Could you tell me exactly what it is you found that even a veteran such as myself was able to miss?"

"I'll be glad to, Prosecutor Vector," the other replied as he took the Ornamental Cane and set it down on the table. "I believe the murder weapon that was used to kill Detective Charles Hedgehog was also the weapon used to give the witness those puncture wounds five years ago. Thanks to the help of Interpol, we've found evidence that someone other than the detective was attacked by this cane. It then goes to reason that the victim was able to momentarily steal it and use it to his advantage before being struck by it."

"That may be all well and good, but I fail to see how that worthless piece of wood would be able to give me these puncture wounds," the old prosecutor countered despite his fingers now fidgeting over the aforementioned wounds. "As far as I can tell, that thing is only capable of dealing blunt blows such as the one that did the detective in. I don't see anything on it that can be used to pierce through skin."

"That's because there's a little secret to this cane that only a select few or those who accidentally discovered it would know. If you twist the handle a certain way, then the serpent's mouth will open up and reveal a set of sharp teeth. When put in this formation, I'd say that it's more than possible for one to pierce through skin with this. And since you have similar wounds on your hand, I ask that the court please compare that with the teeth on this cane. If the distance between both fangs are the same as your puncture wounds, then it'll prove that you were hit by this five years ago when you fought against Detective Charles!"

"Well, that's a surprisingly valid answer coming from an otherwise nondescript piece of evidence," the crocodile commented as he seemed to have regained his previous momentum. "I think I can use this to revive my claim that it was Prosecutor Mephiles who's responsible for the crimes conducted in the LK-9 Incident. You can now consider my official stance to be renewed and back in fighting shape, Your Honor."

"My, I never thought that the murder weapon would hide such a secret to it!" the Judge exclaimed as he seemed satisfied with the answer he was given. Even Tails was amazed that Sonic was able to prevail through all the stress and come up with an amazingly sound answer. "Now that we know this much, I think it only fair that we honor the defense's request. Bailiff, could you please begin measuring the distance between the two snake fangs and see if it matches with the witness' wounds?"

"I hardly see how any of that would be necessary," Mephiles countered yet again without missing a beat. "I'll admit that the wounds look similar in appearance, but that's it. I think that there's a more pressing issue that needs to be addressed. Namely, how would I have been able to get access to the murder weapon? As I remember hearing some time ago, this cane was taken by Interpol as evidence in their smuggling case. Since I'm adamantly proclaiming that I have nothing to do with that, I can't see how I would've gotten my hands on it. However, the same can't be said for Detective Charles. Perhaps he brought it along with him with the intent of killing someone and had the plan backfire on him."

"I don't think it's as convenient as you're making it out to be," Tails spoke up as he quickly produced the Five-Year-Old Photograph. "If you look carefully at this picture on the ground right behind where you're standing, you'll notice something interesting. While the glint does obscure some of it, the shape of the object looks a lot like the Ornamental Cane. I doubt that Interpol has taken note of this or they would've already told us about it."

"That's most likely the case, so I think it best that we ask for their help in analyzing what that item in the photo exactly is," Sonic suggested as he looked up in the gallery where he knew Salem was intently watching. "I'm sure they'd be more than willing to help us with this since the cane also ties in with their smuggling case. If the object in the photo is the same, then we'll know that only you had access to it as it was obviously in the warehouse before the detective ever arrived at the lighthouse. Therefore, your claim that he brought it with him in order to commit murder would become nonexistent! So do you want me to ask the Interpol Agents here for their input, or do you want to make it easier on us and tell the truth?"

"… … …The truth of the matter is that I don't know where that snake-head cane came from," the witness slowly admitted. It was as though he was trying to keep a steady pace in his sentence while carefully choosing his words. That and his frustration was clearly starting to rise to a dangerous level. "If it indeed came from the warehouse five years ago, then I had nothing to do with bringing it out. In fact, I never even noticed it was there until I saw that picture. I'd say that's to be expected since I've nothing to do with the smuggling ring Interpol is working on disbanding."

"Forgive me for saying that your explanation is terribly hard to swallow," Vector said in a sarcastically apologetic tone. "Let us assume for the moment that the object in the picture is in fact the Ornamental Cane. It practically laid a few feet on the floor behind you! For you to say that you simply failed to take notice of it would be like pretending that this case isn't currently being debated over."

"Still, whether or not you yourself took it out from the warehouse isn't what we're discussing," the cobalt hedgehog quickly added to prevent any further tangents. "The fact of the matter is that we have on you two puncture wounds and two fangs on the snake head that look to be a good match. All we need to do is run a comparison on both in order to see if both wound and weapon match with each other. All I ask of the court now is for permission to allow this examination to take place."

"Not so fast, my dear rookies!" the old prosecutor objected so sharply and quickly that it took the entire courtroom off-guard. "I've had enough of your petty little half-baked attempts at trying to pin these heinous crimes on me! You keep claiming that matching up the weapon and wound on me will serve to prove your case. However, you're still failing to take one other thing into account which will ultimately serve to my benefit!"

_Yikes; he's really getting fired up now!_ the defense attorney winced before recovering from the angered outburst. "Uh, exactly what is it you're going on about now? I can't see how you can come up with a perfect excuse to get you out of this one!"

"Have you ever stopped to consider that I've been previously bitten by a snake that had fangs similar to that on the cane? Unless you have proof to the contrary, you can't deny that what I say on that is an impossibility! As such, your request to have my wound be analyzed to that accursed piece of wood is unwarranted!"

"If that's the case, then let me ask just where and when you were bitten!" the young fox countered back. "If you want us to believe that your wound has nothing to do with five years ago, then you shouldn't have any problems telling us."

"…If you must know, I was doing some simple yard work at my vacation home in the outskirts of this city. I accidentally stumbled upon a snake while trying to move a large boulder. Suffice it to say, I got careless and was bitten as a result. The unfortunate incident took place about a month ago, but I never went to the doctor since I knew that the particular breed of snake that bit me posed no threat to my life! Does that answer satisfy you?"

"Hmm, I can't say that it's the most convincing argument I've heard," the Judge replied as he reflected on the new statement. "However, I don't see how we can counter it since you've already admitted to having not went to the doctor to have it checked. I must say, though, that you probably know a lot about snakes to have not been panicking over a bite. If it were me, I would've ran straight to my doctor the moment I was bit!"

"…I'll admit that there isn't anything within my immediate view that can counter the witness's claims," Vector said, his eyes closed tight as he thought deeply on what the situation stood for. "However, I can't help but to feel somewhat uneasy about the whole affair. I'm sure the defense isn't going to just accept this without a fight, so perhaps they can help alleviate my uneasiness in this. That and I'd rather they make the first move this time before I decide again to retract my side of the accusation."

"I suppose that would be wise considering the concern was voiced by them," the old man agreed before turning his gaze towards the duo. "Mr. Sonic, do you and your assistant have any evidence that would suggest the witness's previous statement was a lie? If you don't, then I'm afraid that this court will be forced to accept his testimony as the truth."

For a few moments, the two silently thought about their evidence and what they just heard Mephiles testify to. He already admitted to having refused any medical attention after suffering the bite, so asking for a doctor to testify was out of the question. Also, he most likely did not keep the snake that bit him around as it would just serve as an evidence trail. The only thing they could believe in now was that he was lying and something in their compilation of evidence would help prove them right. The only question now was exactly what piece in their arsenal would prove to be the most helpful?

"…So you're saying that you were bitten by a snake native to the city of Mobius," Sonic finally spoke up. "And since you're obviously very knowledgeable in snakes, you took care of the bite on your own knowing that you weren't in any immediate danger. Am I right assuming as much?"

"Just what are you getting at?" Mephiles asked with a raised eyebrow.

"If you were really bitten by a snake native to this area, then you shouldn't have any problems agreeing to have your blood tested," the cobalt hedgehog replied. He then added just as the witness was about to open his mouth, "My reason for saying so is because of a certain something that was found on the fangs of the Ornamental Cane. On it are remnants of a special kind of poison that Interpol discovered while it was in their possession."

"There was poison on it?" Vector asked as he immediately picked up his copy of the report concerning the cane. "I must've skimmed through it too quickly to have noticed it. Just what kind of poison was found on the fangs?"

"According to their findings, the poison can only be found from snakes that hail from the area surrounding Mobotropolis. It's pretty hard to get ahold of, so that means having this kind of toxin placed onto the cane would prove difficult. However, it's clear that it existed on the object five years ago during the start of the LK-9 Incident!

"As such, I propose that we check Prosecutor Mephiles' blood for any traces of this rare poison!" the defense attorney suggested in a tone so confident that even the witness could not possibly shoot down. "Once it's introduced to the body, it stays there forever and requires a specialized daily medication to retard the effects. If the tests come back showing traces of either this special medicine or poison, then that means he was the one struck by the cane's fangs five years ago. This would then prove that he was attacked in self-defense by Detective Charles Hedgehog before retaking it and bludgeoning him to death!"

Once the basis of the request was finished, the entire courtroom fell silent. All eyes were on the old hedgehog as they waited to see what his next move was going to be. But instead of providing a hasty counterattack, he merely stood quiet with a face so stoic that it refused to relay whatever emotions that were going through the man's head. It was almost as though the entire process had managed to freeze him into shock.

"…Prosecutor Mephiles?" the Judge cautiously asked after a few seconds of a terribly uncomfortable silence. It was almost as though he were afraid of the repercussions that would result in voicing his question. "Do you have anything to say about the witness's request? Are you willing to comply with having the court test your blood for this poison?"

"… … …I suppose even the best prosecutor in the world must learn to admit when he's been defeated," Mephiles bitterly responded after keeping silent for so long. This admission stunned the entire courtroom so much that they could not utter a single word even if they wanted to. "To think that I've been beaten twice by a couple of rookies. I've accepted my first loss against them when we fought during our previous trial; I never imagined that they'd not only be able to get this far but also announce me as the murderer at the same time! I suppose it isn't a fluke then that they earned their place in this courtroom considering the many roadblocks I've put up in an attempt to impede their progress. To think that I would be undone now after having placed so much effort in ensuring I wouldn't be caught."

"So you finally admit it," the crocodile announced with a weary yet triumphant sigh. "You are the sole person responsible for Detective Charles's death. You were the one who took great care to destroy and alter any pieces of evidence that would conveniently lead back to you during an undoubtedly careful investigation. It's been a long road to get to this point, but we've finally arrived at the heart of this cold case."

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><p>Well, that's it for this new chapter. The group has finally pegged Mephiles as the murderer. It's taken an entire day and ten chapters dedicated to this one case to get it done, but we're finally there! Oh, what a satisfying feeling to finally get this crazy prosecutor's insanely careful and cautious mindset out of my own mind. You don't know how bad it was to have him in my head while structuring his testimony and responses to both the defense and prosecution. I seriously now have renewed respect for the ones who write the script for the Phoenix Wright series.<p>

But yeah, I'm sure you all noticed how the chapter just ended so suddenly. Yeah, it's a happy and well deserved ending for the group. However, is there still something that their missing? Well, I'll just save you the trouble and say yes. For those of you who paid attention, you probably already know. For those of you who didn't or just plain forgot during all this hectic testimonies, then just stay tuned for the next chapter! Just believe me when I say that this case is still far from over. Then again, this is Mephiles we're dealing with, a sickeningly cautious and slick man who can pretty much worm out of almost any situation that proves unfitting for his liking.

So yeah, I'll leave you all to move on to the next story that you probably want to read now. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move on, though. I would like to know whether or not this chapter met your expectations and sated the three month wait I've pretty much forced you all to endure. Until the next update to this or any one of my stories on here everybody!


	38. The LK-9 Case Turnabout Pt 11

Hello everybody! I know I've said this many times already, but this is officially the very last chapter of this story. Here now before you is the exciting conclusion of an already difficult and nail-biting trial! How will the final moments of this trial end? Will Sonic and company manage to pin Mephiles down for the murder of Maria Robotnik, or will they fall short and be forced to watch as the ruthless prosecutor takes Shadow down with him? Read on to find out!

...But yeah, that's enough of the dramatic lead-in to this final chapter. Sorry if it sounded super random and whatnot. I'm just super excited that this story is finally over! It's been a little over three years since I started this, and to think it was only supposed to be a short-lived experiment in writing mystery. Never in a million years would I thought I'd go all the way with this and finish it! Honestly, it feels kind of surreal. I'm literally thinking back on all the good and bad times I had writing this story as I'm typing this author's note! It's a pretty nostalgic feeling, I'll give you that.

Of course, these trials were a pain to make and probably something I wouldn't look back on in the near future. And speaking of such, I've had such a hard time with the final part of this trial. It wasn't until the end of the last chapter did I realize I completely forgot about Maria's death. At the same time, I also noticed that I practically had no evidence in regards to that apart from the autopsy report and murder weapon. Yeah, I definitely dug myself into a pretty deep hole. I can honestly say that the outcome of her death is very open-ended. If you want to know how I officially ended the issue in regards to her murder, then read on!

Also, I'm going to create an epilogue after this. It's nothing like the investigation and trial chapters; it's just a catch-up on the characters a few days after this trial. It's basically like the credits scene of the Ace Attorney games where most of the characters share a little bit about what they're doing now and whatnot. So apart from that, this chapter marks the end of one of the greatest stories I've ever written!

And for the last time for this story, please don't forget to leave a review after you finish reading. As always, it's great to hear what you guys thought about the chapter. I hope that I've written this well enough that you would want to reread it whenever you're in the mood for something mysterious. And I hope that you would want to pass this on to your friends so they can read it. And with that, see you all on the next new story idea I come up with! And don't forget to look out for my other works!

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><p><strong>Evidence:<strong>

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Docks. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice, the second happening during Shadow's case. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. It also appears that it was also used in the LK-9 Incident as the weapon to have murdered Maria Robotnik.

Picture: A photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had initially received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and smiling brightly at the camera. Amazingly, his entire demeanor appears almost child-like despite his rather strong and toned body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

LK-9 Case File: A case file summarizing all the information gathered by police and detectives at the height of the LK-9 Incident. A copy of the file was given to Sonic and Tails by Vector in hopes that it would help them obtain the answers they seek about the case. Just before the trial began, it was discovered that both the paper and digital forms were destroyed. Vector's and Silver's official copies are the only two left to exist.

Vector's Account: Testimony recorded by Tails that detail what Vector saw in the courthouse lounge on the day of Knuckles' acquittal. He said he saw Mephiles entering the lounge for the first time in his entire career in order to watch over Sonic's case. He then said the old prosecutor left the room with cell phone in hand after hearing Shadow exclaim that Ace be held in protective custody.

Notes: Notes taken by Tails that depict what he, Sonic, and Silver had discussed regarding possible connections with Sonic's cases and the LK-9 Incident. It's speculated that all the murderers in the previous cases were orchestrated by a single mastermind. It also appears that this person is involved in the smuggling ring Interpol is investigating.

Case Summary File: A file found in the LK-9 Case File that summarizes the scene of the crime. The crime took place at the Mobius Dock's lighthouse that was then a business known as the "Prycey Seafood Company". It was owned by three people and had employed one person to work on cargo duty; two of the owners were Lois and Maxwell Pryce with only a lesser percentage of the business to their name. An unnamed third person had owned a majority of the business before it was forced closed upon being in the spotlight of a murder.

Witness List: A list of witnesses found in the LK-9 Case File. According to the list, there were four potential witnesses to the murder. Two of them were Max and Lois Pryce and have been recorded as supplying witness statements to the police. The third person was Salemand Eres who appears to have been working at the Prycey Seafood Company at the time, although Shadow states that he was merely working undercover then. A fourth person, the third owner of the business, was kept anonymous for some reason and had his wish to refuse to testify be granted.

Victims' Report: A report that supplies basic details of the victims of the LK-9 Incident. One of them was a senior detective by the name of Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. The second victim was a defense attorney called Maria Robotnik, Shadow's good friend and apparently a relative of Dr. Robotnik.

Charles' Autopsy Report: Charles was found dead with a single strike to the head with a blunt object. The bruises covering his body and on his fists show that he most likely struggled with his killer prior to dying. The murder weapon was the Ornamental Cane discovered to have been in Interpol custody for the past five years. The report makes no mention of any puncture wounds being found on the body.

Maria's Autopsy Report: Maria was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was shot at a distance and went straight through her skull. The entry wound was from the back and exited the front. There were no signs of any struggle.

Bullet: The bullet that was found lodged in a wall after having killed Maria Robotnik. It was proven five years ago that it was fired from the same Pistol that was used to kill Prosecutor Flora Mae. According to the trajectory report, it was fired in a position that would make the bullet's path parallel to the hallway.

Diagram: Floor plans that show the interior of the lighthouse five years ago when it was still known as the "Prycey Seafood Company". Vector has written in a red sharpie on it the path Maria took upon entering the lighthouse. She first went to the bookshelf located on the other side of the foyer before making her way to the office. She then went back to the bookshelf where she was ultimately killed.

Statements: Statements made by Sonic and friends five years ago about their kidnapping ordeal. All four said the same thing and that they were blindfolded when they entered the lighthouse. They felt themselves going downstairs and were then left in a pitch black and windowless room. However, detectives failed to find said room. That and they were ultimately discovered on the lighthouse second floor, a fact that none of them were able to properly explain. As such, their statements were considered useless and shuffled away.

Leon's Statement: Testimony regarding the moments leading up to Leon's kidnapping. He entered the old Prycey Seafood Warehouse and went to the office in an attempt to collect more information with regards to either the smuggling ring or their person of interest. Before he could perform a thorough search, he was soon attacked and imprisoned in the office before the Chaotix Detective Agency found and rescued him. He mentioned that the room looked as though it had been rifled through when he came to.

Warehouse Keypad: A sophisticated password system for the door to the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. According to Salem, the security company in charge of the password is still supplying service to the building. However, the bi-annual password change is sent to only one person. It's suspected that Mephiles is the one with access to the new passwords.

Salem's Testimony: Testimony recorded during Salem's court appearance. He testified to working overtime at the warehouse from midnight until one. He made it clear that nobody left the lighthouse the moment he went out to take a look after hearing gunshots. All four employees, including himself, were scattered about the Prycey Seafood Business grounds when the police had arrived. Charles was still alive when he first approached him. He also mentioned that Maria and Charles had knowledge of the smuggling ring and believed through their last case's client that the company had ties to the ring.

Print Report: Documents the prints that were found in the warehouse office. One of them belonged to Leon and were made during his entrapment. The second set were made from gloved hands and couldn't be identified. However, the gloved prints only touched certain areas of the room and indicated that the perpetrator knew exactly where to look for what they wanted.

Warehouse Office Diagram: A blueprint of where everything in the office was. It also has markings on it which demonstrate where the gloved prints and blood were found. Two prints were found on the handles of a file cabinet situated behind the desk. Another set was found all over the wall-mount safe. There were no other gloved prints to be found. The blood was found in the center of the room where a clean spot devoid of dust was found.

Blood Analysis: A forensics report done on the blood found in the warehouse office. While it had appeared recently, a proper examination of it couldn't be done because the composition had been destroyed with bleach. The only known clean sample was taken from Leon's nails from when he wounded the perpetrator, but that alone isn't enough to prove who it belonged to due to lack of a proper culprit.

Written Statement: A letter that was written by the fourth witness five years ago at the start of the LK-9 Incident. A handwriting analysis has shown that Mephiles was the one who wrote it out.

Letter: A document found in the lighthouse basement instructing Max Pryce to murder Lois. The handwriting analysis shows that it couldn't have been Mephiles who written it out. In fact, the penmanship of the letters seem to be a mash of various writing styles and suggests the writer is well-versed in differing writing formats. The proof that it was written out by the same person is the fact that the structure of the E and S when put together are consistently the same throughout the letter.

Ornamental Cane: The weapon used to kill Charles Hedgehog five years ago. The blood found on the serpent head's teeth couldn't be properly analyzed due to the interference of an organic substance in the composition. Upon further examination of the organic substance, it was discovered to be a special type of poison obtained only through a rare breed of snake found in the forests of Mobotropolis. There is no known cure for the poison, and the one inflicted is forced into a lifetime of specialized antibiotics only accessible through prescription. Also, the poison leaves an everlasting scar from where it enters the body; a bald spot is also present on anthropomorphs with fur.

Five-Year-Old Photograph: A picture taken by Dr. Robotnik five years ago. The time stamp shows it was taken just ten minutes before the double murders occurred along with scribbles on the back saying it was taken in the Prycey Seafood Warehouse. It shows Mephiles in a dimply lit area leaning against a crate and talking on his cell phone while looking through an address book. It's believed that he might've been trying to organize a black market auction for the smuggling ring. On the ground next to him is a shiny object made obscure due to it's glint.

**Profiles:**

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog who has taken upon himself to act as the defense for the LK-9 Incident. However, he knows next to nothing about the case and must learn as much as he can during the course of the trial. He wishes to try and solve the case despite the fact that expert investigators over the past five years have failed to do so.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails". Ever since proving himself to be an above average investigator during the precinct murder, he has been hired by Dr. Robotnik to be the law firm's local detective. He's now working alongside Sonic in an attempt to find answers that lie hidden within the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct. Despite having nothing to add on the case, he's decided to watch the proceedings in the gallery. He delivered the LK-9 evidence to Vector after learning that someone had managed to destroy both the electronic and paper versions of the case file.

Salemand Eres: An Interpol Agent who has decided to reveal his true identity in court in order to be granted immunity from the charges of tampering with the scene of a crime and removal of evidence. He was working undercover in the Prycey Seafood Company at the time the double-murders happened. His real name is actually "Salem".

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen. He has been cleared of murder thanks to Sonic and is now overlooking the case from the gallery to see what will surface during the trial regarding the LK-9 Incident. He's prepared to be pinned as a murderer due to his fingerprints being on the Pistol that killed Maria.

Silver Hedgehog: A nineteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken it upon himself to testify to the courts as if he were one of the detectives from the initial investigation of the LK-9 Incident. Everything he knows about the case is through the many reports that have been documented over the past five years.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. He expects nothing but perfection in his work and condones from his opponents nothing short from a blatantly relevant question and an extremely well-based argument. Salem has pointed him out as being a person of interest for Interpol's smuggling ring; this has inadvertently turned him into a potential suspect for the LK-9 Incident.

Vector Crocodile: A twenty-three-year old local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Shadow's coworker. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated. He has also taken it upon himself to oversee the LK-9 Incident as a prosecutor and help as much as he can to keep the trial going and uncover the truth behind it all.

Leukis Kruger: Salem's younger brother who's afflicted with the rare genetic disorder, Feralisis Syndrome. He also happens to be with Interpol. According to Salem, they were reunited after Leukis had managed to successfully shake off members of the smuggling ring who figured out his true identity and wanted him dead. His real name is "Leon".

Charles Hedgehog: Sonic's uncle with greyish blue fur who was once a resourceful and reliable senior detective down at the local precinct. Because of the events from five years ago, he became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Sonic decided to pursue a career as a defense attorney.

Maria Robotnik: Shadow's good friend with beautifully long blond hair who was once a defense attorney. She apparently has some relations to Dr. Robotnik. Because of the events from five years ago, she became an unfortunate victim of what is now known as the LK-9 Incident. Was the key reason why Shadow decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor.

Ace Sleuth: A former Senior Detective who was jailed for the murder of his fiancee. He was then sent to a secluded safe house courtesy of Shadow upon discovering he had some connections with the LK-9 Incident. However, some unknown person discovered where he was hiding and killed him. An anonymous note sent to the Precinct telling officers about the murder seems to have been written by the mysterious fourth witness.

Charmy Bee: A young and hyper eight-year-old kid who works with Vector at the Chaotix Detective Agency. Because of Espio's arrest, he is currently the only one employed in the business at the moment. He had worked together with Leon in order to search the abandoned warehouse and procure new evidence for both Sonic and Vector to use in the LK-9 Incident.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: A fifty-three-year-old defense attorney of some renown who owns and runs the Robotnik Law Firm. He served as Salem's and Leon's contact in Mobius and is thus himself an agent of Interpol. He has gotten himself close to the smuggling ringleader in order to learn as much as he possibly could about their covert operations. Despite not knowing for sure, he seems to indicate in his letter his belief that Mephiles is the ringleader on top of being a high-interest suspect in the LK-9 Incident.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 38: The LK-9 <strong>**Case Turnabout Pt. 11**

"Wh-what exactly is the meaning of this, Prosecutor Mephiles?" the Judge asked, clearly stunned at the turn of events and apparent disgraceful downfall of a prosecutorial legacy. The entire gallery, shocked at everything that had taken place, quietly watched as the truth began to unfold before them. "Are you really providing this court with a confession telling us that you're the one who's responsible for murder five years ago?"

"I don't see any reason now for me to keep denying that fact, Your Honor," Mephiles replied without any sense of distress. It was almost as though he was somewhat expecting to be pegged as a murderer. "Both the defense and prosecution has done a more than adequate job at proving their case. I'm merely surprised that they were able to get to this point with the shabby information they call evidence under their possession this entire time."

"It's only shabby when in the hands of someone who doesn't know the truth behind the case," Sonic stated with his arms crossed triumphantly. "And since we figured out the answer somewhere along the line, it was just a matter of connecting the dots until you weren't able to continue refuting everything we said. I'm still wondering how you managed to worm your way out of almost every point I brought against you."

"Oh, it's simply a matter of analyzing your arguments and slipping through even the smallest of cracks," the old hedgehog explained. "I've learned through all my years working as a prosecutor that no argument is fully structured so long as even the slightest misconception or confusion exists. Had you not been so persistent this entire time, I'm sure I'd have gotten away with that this time around."

"As much as this is a valid confession coming from the witness, there's still something I'm somewhat concerned about," Vector spoke up as he crossed his arms in thought. "Both the evidence and his own words are enough to convict him of murder, but we still don't know what compelled him to do this. I mean, I don't think we've ever really substantiated a foundation for his motive in wanting to kill Detective Charles."

"…I think I might have the answer to that, Prosecutor Vector," Tails answered before taking out the Letter. "This is merely a theory at this point, but it does pose some semblance of a motive when put in context to the witness.

"Remember how Interpol mentioned earlier that they expressed interest in him being the smuggling ringleader?" he began explaining. "Agent Salem mentioned to me during the recess that both Detective Charles and Maria Robotnik had obtained some key information regarding the ring through one of their cases. And in the trial regarding Ms. Lois Pryce's murder, Mr. Maxwell Pryce said that the ringleader was the one who sent him this Letter that instructed him to kill his sister. It's too bad that he doesn't know the true name of his leader, but that piece of testimony alone is suspect enough to be further scrutinized!

"I'll admit that proving whether or not Prosecutor Mephiles is indeed the leader of this smuggling ring isn't what we're here to do. However, I do see a chance for us to help Interpol further along their investigation into it by passing on what little information we've gathered on the topic to them. In so doing, we'll come to a mutually beneficial partnership in where they can get further along with their case while we unearth the witness's motive. In short, I proclaim that he was the true orchestrator behind the kidnapping which then served to lure both victims to the lighthouse where he then had easy access to murder them."

"Hah, you really do have a knack for crafting wild tales!" the witness chuckled as though he were slowly going mad. "Even if this trial were about my supposed involvement with a smuggling ring, that single Letter is hardly grounds to try and connect me with it. That and it seems so unsubstantiated in whatever motive you claim I had for committing murder."

"How about you wait until we're finished with our explanation before trying to shoot us down," Sonic countered as he took the witness's Written Statement from five years ago and put it beside the Letter. "This statement is a document you handed to detectives five years ago in an attempt to avoid providing oral testimony. Since it's been proven to be your handwriting, I propose that we use this as a comparison for the handwriting on the Letter. However, I'll admit that we've already had these sent to forensics where they showed no connections of having been written by you.

"Unfortunately for you, I decided to enlist the help of Interpol's forensics team in hopes that they might be able to uncover something new," he continued on before putting both on the projector for all to see. "It seems I was right to make that call. If you would pay attention to how the E and S are written at the end of every word that has it, then you'll notice how they're all written in the same style. Coincidentally enough, the same formation is seen on the Written Statement you provided five years ago. I'll admit that this probably seems coincidental at best, so I suggest that we take a look at other documents penned by your hand and check for this. If they come out the same, then we'll pass on the information to Interpol so they can deepen their search into your overall involvement with the smuggling ring.

"But in the meantime, having proof that the handwriting is the same will provide us with enough evidence as to what your motive might've been in wanting to kill Detective Charles. If you are the leader of a smuggling ring, then you would want whatever information he managed to dig up about you to die along with him. As such, you orchestrated the kidnapping to lure him to you where you had unrestricted access to his murder."

"My, it sounds like you've mustered enough evidence to bring about a slew of charges against the witness!" the Judge exclaimed as he merely sat back and watched everything unfold. "It was only some time ago today that you were struggling to just convince the court on your view of things. I'm simply amazed with how far things have progressed in this trial. And to think that we've also heard a confession of guilt coming from a prosecutor who is well respected in this district! Imagine the scandal this is going to cause for the entire legal profession once words spreads beyond these courtroom walls."

"As amazing as my confession having been made public to you all has been, I don't believe the defense has any right to be accusing me of being the smuggling ringleader," the old hedgehog responded normally as though he had not just been deemed a murderer. "That Letter they've presented as evidence could've easily been written by someone else. And even if they were able to present more substantial evidence on the matter, whether or not I'm the ringleader has nothing to do with this trial. The fact remains that I've already admitted to having murdered Detective Charles Hedgehog. All the evidence that both defense and prosecution has presented supplements my confession.

"However, that's all I will admit to on this matter," he continued on, his last statement confusing everyone in the courtroom. "In fact, that's all that both sides of the courtroom have managed to prove beyond doubt. You may feel free to question whatever other kinds of wrongdoings they have brought against me, but none of them have anything to do with what's currently being discussed. As such, the only crime that I am guilty of and that they have been able to prove is me having killed the detective."

"Oh, come on; you've already admitted to us about having murdered Detective Charles Hedgehog!" the cobalt hedgehog groaned. "As far as we're concerned, you've forfeited your right to freedom with that admission. Stop trying to avoid further responsibility and come clean with everything you did that night!"

"But how can I 'come clean' when I've already laid in front of you all the atrocities I've committed then? I've nothing else to confess to you all in regards to this case. Asking anymore of me would then be forcing me to provide a false confession in order to satisfy your delusional ideas. I'm sure that's the last thing you want to be slammed for after having worked so hard to garner my conviction."

"So you're just going to pretend that you had no involvement whatsoever with Ms. Robotnik's death?" the crocodile asked. It was clear he was trying to keep the trial going but was having almost nothing to make it work. "That matter is the second half of our case, and we haven't yet finished discussing about the conditions in regards to her murder. If you were able to kill Detective Charles, then you definitely had more than enough time to have also killed her. I don't see the reason why you keep refusing to admit it. At this point, there's no reason for you to keep denying it."

"Actually, there is plenty reason for me to continue on with my denial. The first reason is that it's strategically better for me to be convicted of one murder instead of two. That way, I'll only be eligible for life in prison rather than the death sentence as is customary by the constructs of modern law. Even though I've already lost my freedom at this point, I would like to live out the rest of my life while behind bars. I won't let you have the satisfaction of having rid this world of a 'double murderer'.

"However, the second and more important reason is the lack of evidence proving I'm the one responsible for her death. If you really believe it to be the truth, then present some evidence that backs up your claims. Don't forget that you've yet to disprove my theory of Prosecutor Shadow's involvement with her untimely death and how he was the one to have orchestrated the kidnapping. That's the entire basis of your claim as to what my motive is, but it's only formed by countless pieces of unsubstantiated claims. You can refute it however much you want, but the only thing I'm guilty of is the murder of Detective Charles Hedgehog. I had no involvement with Ms. Robotnik's death."

Instead of providing a counterargument, both sides of the courtroom stood quiet as they stared defiantly at the witness. As much as they both hated it, the defense and prosecution had to agree that Mephiles was right on this point. Despite being so sure that he was the culprit in both murders, there was a lack of evidence that proved he was also responsible for Maria's murder. No matter how hard he tried, nothing was popping into Sonic's head that remotely hinted at the thought being the truth. Even Vector was unusually quiet, a sure sign that he was also unable to come up with or discover anything new.

"…It's true that we don't have any evidence that can disprove your theory of Shadow having murdered Ms. Robotnik," Tails spoke up after intently thinking on the subject during the few moments the courtroom was in silence. "Despite how suspicious things might be, we can't say with certainty that you're the one responsible. All the work we've done to get to this point only serves in bringing peace to Detective Charles's death. None of it has any true regards with the second murder tied into this trial.

"However, I'm not going so far as to admit there isn't any evidence in existence to help supplement our claims," he quickly added just as Mephiles's mouth was about to let loose some kind of cocky remark. "Through all the evidence and testimony heard thus far, it's already been proven that Maria died before Detective Charles did. That was mainly because the detective was unconscious before dying of blood loss. And right after the gunshot was heard, Agent Salem has testified to having made his way outside where he preserved the crime scene apart from taking key evidence for Interpol's smuggling case."

"What exactly is the defense going on about with this?" the Judge asked, his eyebrow raising at why they were now delving back to the early parts of the trial. "We've already went through this when Agent Salem was testifying earlier. I hardly see how reminding us all of this is relevant to Ms. Robotnik's murder."

"Well, I've noticed that there was a small window of time left unaccounted for in terms of the witness's movements. Salem was adamant in saying he saw nobody until the police arrived; and that means he doesn't know what Prosecutor Mephiles was doing during that time. Since we have no idea what the witness did in those few minutes, I think that we've one more avenue in which to discover what really happened in regards to the woman's murder. As such, I find that we as the defense still have some room to further question the witness as to what he was doing that night!"

"I'll admit that this unaccounted time is of valid concern, but how do you suggest to use this information to your advantage?" the old man questioned with clear intrigue tagged along with his words. "You've already admitted yourself that there's a lack of evidence to indict the witness for Ms. Robotnik's murder. Without that, I fail to see how you plan to successfully garner any new information from further testimony."

"But we can't ignore the fact that there's a window of time that has yet to be discussed!" Sonic quickly countered after finally getting on the same page as Tails. "To do so would be an injustice to this trial. Just because there's a lack of evidence doesn't mean we can't obtain the information by other means."

"Are you suggesting that we have the witness testify once more, Mr. Sonic?" Vector asked as he finally caught on to what the fox was getting to. "If that's what you're suggesting, then I agree wholeheartedly with it. The only matter that's left to be cleared is who's responsible for the woman's death. Being that there's no evidence that proves the witness's guilt in this matter, I agree in that we need to hear from him as to why he can't have been her murderer. If we can create a timeline depicting the moments between Detective Charles being knocked out and when Ms. Robotnik was killed, then we'll be able to figure out who's the true guilty one in this second murder."

"So you're basically asking me to explain what I was doing in the moments between the two murders," Mephiles simplified, his face looking more than intrigued at what was being suggested. "Very well; I don't see any harm in humoring your unsustainable theory. What you're claiming is so full of holes that you can't possibly hope to pull off one of your ever so popular miraculous turnabouts. Nevertheless, I'm sure this will serve to be my last bit of courtroom excitement. Hopefully, you'll see at the end of this that everything you hope to accomplish now is nothing but a clogged pipe dream."

"The only thing that's clogged around here is that sick head of yours!" the defense attorney exclaimed. "It's about time you got off your high horse and steel yourself for defeat once we've proven how you are nothing but a ruthless murderer!"

"That's enough!" the old man said as he banged his gavel and effectively brought silence to the courtroom. "I'll allow the defense's request to be granted. However, this will be the last time I'll allow Prosecutor Mephiles to testify. We've already substantiated Detective Charles's murder through great deliberation, I doubt that we'll find out more about Ms. Robotnik after having conducted so much work. If neither side of the courtroom is able to pinpoint something important during the next cross-examination, then I'll be inclined to believe that the witness was not responsible for Ms. Robotnik's murder. As such, I'll have to take in the possibility that Prosecutor Shadow was responsible. Is that clear?"

Neither side made any sound of acknowledgement. Rather, Sonic and Tails merely nodded their heads in nervousness while Vector crossed his arms in an attempt to stay calm. Mephiles was the only one smiling as though what he was going to say was going to be his saving grace from the second accusation.

"I'll take it that you both agree. Now that we have the conditions covered, I ask that Prosecutor Mephiles testify about what it was he did immediately after Detective Charles's murder. If you would, witness?"

"I'll be more than happy to, Your Honor. After all, my innocence in this matter hangs in the balance."

"What innocence?" the cobalt hedgehog grumbled so that only Tails could hear. "You already admitted to committing murder. You can't be any guiltier than that!"

"So long as he still has something left to lose, I doubt he's just going to let us have an easy win," the fox responded back. "Like he said, all he has left is his life which he wants to keep. Convicting him of this second murder would make him eligible for the death penalty. Once we've taken away his right to live, he should be more than willing to tell us the truth in terms of this trial."

"Geez, you saying it like that makes it kind of sound like want him dead," the other deadpanned while receiving an annoyed look for the comment. "But I know you're just trying to remind me as to what the law is on this. To be honest, I don't care whether or not he's able to get onto the death row list. The only thing that matters now is getting Shadow off of this guy's radar and prove that he's the only one capable for both murders!"

_**Why I'm Not Maria's Killer**_

After having killed Detective Charles Hedgehog, I immediately made my way back into the lighthouse. I had to clean myself of the detective's blood that had managed to get on me. I also had to dispose of whatever items on me that could potentially link me to his death. I was taking care of this in the office bathroom when I head the gun go off. I had assumed it was one of the Pryce siblings and didn't bother checking. However, I later learned that they were on the roof. They were trying to come up with an alibi that would make their situation into a "wrong place, wrong time" scenario. As such, the only one who had the opportunity to have murdered Maria Robotnik was Prosecutor Shadow!

_**End Witness Testimony**_

"That's a rather convenient story you want us to believe," Sonic deadpanned when the testimony was over. "You happened to be inside the lighthouse yet not in the same exact room as Ms. Robotnik was. You then heard a gun go off but decided that cleaning yourself was more important than investigating to see if it was a threat to you. I can't tell you how unbelievable all this sounds, but what really stands out the most is that you somehow just managed to fail seeing her while making your way to the bathroom!"

"I must agree with the defense on this," Vector said with a nod of his head. "I've never been in the lighthouse myself, but my coworker for the Chaotix Detective Agency has. From his description, the first floor is relatively small and comprising of only three rooms including the hallway. With such small space in-between rooms, I seems near impossible that you were able to miss another living person during that span of time."

"You can believe whatever it is you want, but it doesn't change the fact that you have no evidence to refute my claim," Mephiles coolly countered with a straight face. "If you really have something that proves I ran into the woman while on my way to the bathroom, then why don't you show it now instead of merely spewing out empty threats? And do I even need to point out that saying it 'seems near impossible' indicates that you have some reservations as to it being just another lie of mines? Even if your tone doesn't say it, your words reflect that small bit of doubt that rests in your mind. If you had concrete evidence, then there wouldn't be any reason for your words to sound doubtful."

Instead of answering back, both the crocodile and cobalt hedgehog let out a growl of frustration. He knew that he did not have anything like that in his arsenal, but he rather stay quiet than openly admit defeat on that front to the old witness.

"I'll take your silence as an agreement to what I said," the old hedgehog chuckled as he crossed his arms in a defiant manner. "Still, I have a feeling you're just not ready to give up yet. Then how about you get on with your frivolous cross-examination and see for yourself just how fruitless your efforts are in trying to portray me as Ms. Robotnik's murderer? I'm sure a rather large dose of reality is just what you need to get you off of your high horse."

"As much as I don't agree with Prosecutor Mephiles's tone, I agree that we should get on with the proceedings," the Judge responded. "I don't want to be spending more time than it is necessary on this topic, especially since we've gone to it with no evidence. Don't forget that I'll put an end to this trial if this doesn't uncover anything new."

"Understood, Your Honor," the defense attorney acknowledged while Vector merely nodded his head. He then said in an undertone, "I'm not going to let you go down while also placing doubt on Shadow's good name! I don't care if there isn't evidence that proves you're responsible for killing Maria; I'm going to do everything I can to prove your theory to be the piece of crap it is!"

_**Begin Cross-Examination**_

"Prosecutor Mephiles, why did you see it fit to run into the lighthouse after committing murder?" Sonic began with a simple question. "If I had just killed someone, the last thing I'd want to do is to clean up while so close to the body. In fact, I'd either try to get rid of it as quickly as possible or get some distance between me and the cops. Then again, you don't strike me as the kind of person who would be so easily panicked over something that you did. Despite that being the case, why was it that you just decided to leave Detective Charles's body out in the open for the world to see?"

"That's because it was already past midnight when I killed him," Mephiles replied as though it were a simple answer. "That particular part of the city never sees any traffic during those hours. Provided that there wasn't some odd person deciding to take a late night stroll; I knew it wouldn't be discovered until the next morning at the latest."

"In other words, you were able to take the time cleaning yourself up of all evidence that connected you with the crime," Vector concluded. "Still, that was a pretty brazen move on your part to just leave a body out in the open like that regardless of the time of day. Then again, you were careful enough to not leave any tangible trace of yourself at the scene and thus made it look like a well prepared random murder. The only traces of yourself that you couldn't get rid of was the blood on the Ornamental Cane's fangs. Even so, you knew that forensics wouldn't be able to get a clean sample due to the poison destroying its composition."

"My, it's almost as though you're able to see right into my mind," the old hedgehog added with a smug smirk. Sonic barely managed to suppress an obnoxious scoff and passed it off as an equally obnoxious cough. "Everything you've said thus far is exactly what I thought at that moment, Prosecutor Vector. I had no reason to be worried as I knew the police would have trouble making any kind of case with what little insignificant clues I was forced to leave behind. As such, it mattered not that the body was discovered on my business's premises. So long as the police didn't discover the secret to the cane and figured out I sustained similar puncture wounds, I needn't have worried over anything."

"But if you were heading to into the lighthouse in order to destroy the evidence on you, then wouldn't you have ran into Ms. Robotnik?" Tails asked. He noticed that the old prosecutor was trying to guide them back to the topic of his guilt in order to distract them from their original intent. "It's clear that you didn't see her outside, but I find it hard to believe that you simply missed her once you were inside. I've been to the lighthouse myself, so I know that the first floor merely comprises of a kitchen, an office where the bathroom was, and the main hallway with a set of stairs at the end which lead to the second floor. She was only in the first floor the entire time she was there, and the space was small enough that you couldn't possibly hide from someone. So how is it that you still managed to miss her?"

"When you miss bumping into people, there often is no explanation to such phenomena. Things like that just simply happen whether or not you believe it to be true. I can't give you an explanation for why it happened because it'd be like explaining why nature only gives some people superior minds. All I can say is that I never once laid eyes on her from the moment I went to the bathroom until I came out and saw her dead."

"Oh, that has to be the worst answer I've ever heard!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed while rolling his eyes. "I can't believe that you never once saw her while making your way to the bathroom as you claim! According to the diagram, the nearest bathroom from the entrance was in the office. It's been proven that she was in there at one point looking for a way to move the bookshelf in the hallway, so you must've ran into each other there! And if not there, then you would've seen her on the other side of the hallway when you first entered!"

"If she did go in there, then it must've been after I entered the bathroom. And she couldn't have possibly have been in the hallway since I saw nobody there. In that case, she was either in the kitchen or in a blind spot that was present when one enters from the front door. Despite how it may look like today, that hallway had its share of blind spots five years ago. I was in a rush at the time to clean up after my crime; I easily could've easily missed her if she was in an obstructed part of the hallway or the kitchen."

"…I'll admit that there's a _small _possibility of what you said being the truth," the fox murmured as he tried to find some way to discredit the witness's words. "So if we're to stick with that thought, you never once saw Ms. Robotnik while you were inside. I would suppose then that serves as the basis of your alibi in terms of her murder? I mean, saying that you never once laid eyes on her means your ability to commit the deed was nonexistent."

"I'll admit that it isn't the best alibi in the world, but it doesn't change the fact that it's the truth. When I figured out the woman was dead, I asked if the Pryce siblings had anything to do with it. They denied it, and I could tell they were telling the truth. After being their boss for a few years, I could tell whether or not they were lying. As such, the only other person left who had both the time and opportunity to commit the murder is Prosecutor Shadow. Out of all the kidnap victims that were in the lighthouse, he is the only one with a questionable alibi of being just another kidnap victim.

"Here's what I believe happened," the old hedgehog said as he began the basis of his theory. "Maria was about to stumble upon the secret basement room where the kidnap victims were held. Under normal circumstances, her discovering it wouldn't be too much of a problem. However, Prosecutor Shadow was already busy at the time doing god knows what away from where he was supposed to be. Should she have seen only three people imprisoned, she would immediately be alerted to the idea that he could have at the least been an accomplice in this plan with someone in the lighthouse. There's no doubt in my mind that he couldn't have done all this alone, so I believe he managed to persuade either one or both of the Pryce siblings in helping him to concoct this rather convoluted plan."

"Hold on a second," the crocodile interrupted. "Are you now saying that one of your coworkers played a part in the kidnapping? I'll admit that it seems pretty impossible for this to be pulled off by a single person, but what evidence do you have that proves your own workers were in league with Prosecutor Shadow in this plan? For a perfectionist such as you, it seems odd how you want to present ideas when you have no evidence to back it up. Or is it that your time on the witness stand has started to dull your mind."

"If you want to take jabs at me, then at least wait until you have the basis to make such attacks. I'm ready to admit that I haven't any proof which can provide substance to what I'm saying. However, I was merely stating a hypothetical scenario. Don't forget that your theory is also merely hypothetical with no evidence to even slightly infer that it might be the truth. Now if you don't mind, allow me to finish my explanation.

"After seeing Ms. Robotnik looking for the hidden basement entrance in the hallway, Prosecutor Shadow started to panic. Not wanting to be found out, he could only think of figuring out a way to get her away. The only gun that was in the vicinity was on my office desk, so he had to have been there when he saw the woman. That would be the only time he could've had access to the gun. The shot that ensued afterwards was then heard by me who had been secluded in the bathroom the entire time."

"While that all sounds like a good theory, it doesn't make sense for Shadow to take part in a kidnapping scheme," Sonic quickly pointed out. He did not believe a single word that was coming from the witness and was ready to point out any inconsistencies in a heartbeat. "I'm sure he hasn't had any history of psychotic episodes since the legal association checks on such things before issuing licenses to practice law. So apart from a sudden psychotic breakdown, what reason could he possibly have in wanting to fake his own kidnapping and drag his friends along for the ride? And let's not forget that he was only thirteen at the time this all took place. Trying to plan a kidnapping would've been the last thing on his mind!"

"Perhaps he merely wanted to garner some excitement in his otherwise boring life," the old hedgehog suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. "High school life could've easily have been a bore that he wanted to have remedied. What better way to cure it than to be put under the spotlight as a survivor of a kidnapping. Of course, he wanted it to make the whole ordeal look as authentic as possible. To that end, he went and forced three victims to unwillingly take part in this along with him. His motive for it was to ensure that whatever connections between him and the kidnapping will fail to make itself known during the investigation."

"Believe me when I say that the defendant is the last person who would consider school life boring or even concoct such a plan to kill boredom," Vector objected in a defensive tone. "As his fellow friend and coworker, I've heard quite a few stories in regards to some of his interesting school escapades. With the amount of detail he put into them, he'd have to be a rather accomplished liar to remember even the smallest of details.

"And let me make mention about how he managed to get his prints on the murder weapon in the first place," he continued on without missing a beat. "I still believe that he got into a fight with one of the kidnappers. During that scuffle, he managed to momentarily get ahold of the gun which was when he left his prints on it. However, you mentioned just now that he instead simply took it from your office desk. If we're to go along with your theory, then I don't see any reason for him to even be in that room if he were merely using the lighthouse as the backdrop for his kidnapping scheme."

"Perhaps he was simply looking for a way to make transporting his victims to the second floor easier. That's reason enough to be exploring the office, especially since it's already been proven that the actual victims were moved for some unknown reason. I still see no reason as to why he would go through all the trouble for that, but the fact remains that he moved the other three to a different area. And since my gun was on top of the desk, he had both the time and opportunity to commit the murder."

"As good of an explanation it may be, it sounds nothing more than a well-crafted story," Sonic countered back. "Everything that you've testified to in order to prove your theory are nothing but suppositions. You've yet to present a single piece of concrete evidence to prove Prosecutor Shadow's guilt in Ms. Robotnik's murder!"

"And I can say the same to you, Mr. Sonic," Mephiles calmly objected. "You and your partner have thrown a lot of theories and suppositions my way as to why I'm responsible for both murders that night. However, you've only managed to squander enough evidence to prove me guilty on one count. You decided to indict me in her murder, and I simply provided the court with another unproven yet equally possible scenario as to what might've happened. Until you can disprove what I've said, you can't comfortably rely on just your theories without the solid foundation of evidence to back it up."

"I must admit that the witness has a good point on this," the Judge surmised after banging his gavel. "He's brought up even before his indictment on Detective Charles's murder of there being a chance Prosecutor Shadow was guilty of Ms. Robotnik's death. Neither the defense or prosecution has found any way to discredit his thoughts, so I can't feel comfortable saying that Prosecutor Mephiles was responsible for both murders."

"If Your Honor doesn't feel comfortable about it, then there's obviously room for doubt as to Prosecutor Shadow's role of simply being a kidnap victim," the old hedgehog added. "As such, I'll continue to say that he was the one who shot the poor woman in the head. She must've seen him armed at one point and tried to fight him for possession of the gun. I do remember hearing something akin to a struggle while I was in the bathroom. Failing to obtain the gun, she decided to make a run for it towards the stairs. If you think about it that way, then it seems more than reasonable for him to be the murderer."

"Is that so?" Tails murmured as he turned this over in his head. "Do you mind if you added that detail to your testimony? It has to do with why you're not the murderer, and I don't believe any of us have heard this detail before."

"I don't believe we have," the Judge agreed with a nod of his head. "Could you please add this to your official testimony, Prosecutor Mephiles?"

"If it'll help you all further see my innocence in this matter, then I'll do it. That and I'd rather to have all these needless questions end as soon as possible. It's clear that everybody's merely grasping at straws for nonexistent information. What better way to prove the futility of the defense's actions than to let them fall from grace? I promise that neither of our explanations will be blessed with the evidence to prove it anytime soon."

_And maybe that'll change depending on what comes flying out of your lying mouth,_ the cobalt hedgehog thought as he braced himself for some new testimony. _So why don't you just stop talking nonsense and get on with your testimony?_

_**New Statement**_

I assume that Prosecutor Shadow shot at the retreating Ms. Robotnik from the office doorway the moment she was in his sights.

_**End New Statement**_

"And you're saying that her body just conveniently laid in front of the bookshelf that was the entrance to the hidden basement?" Sonic asked, heavy skepticism dripping from his words. "I find that to be unnaturally coincidental since we believe she already realized the secret to that shelf and was trying to get the kidnap victims out."

"If you were put in the face of danger, I think the last thing you'd want to do is rescue people," Mephiles explained. "Considering the time it'd take to get that door open, running away from the gunman would be the more obvious choice. Unfortunately for her, she failed to run fast enough and was gunned down. Had she been in the kitchen instead of the hallway, then perhaps she'd have had a better time using the cover to her advantage. But alas, the hallway was practically bare of such lifesaving reprieves."

"As poetic as you're trying to make it sound, the fact remains that she was killed in that hallway," Vector surmised while trying to keep the trial going at a normal pace. "As much as I want to say how I don't agree with your explanation, I must admit that it makes some amount of sense. By using the basis of Shadow's fingerprints being on the murder weapon, your theory does have some amount of plausibility. The only problem is that it's lacking evidence, a problem that both the defense and I are also facing with our own theory. As such, it looks like we're stuck in the middle of a deadlock."

"Well, then I guess that means you can't really continue going about saying that I'm the woman's murderer," the old hedgehog smugly replied. "It's hard for any of us to continue on when two conflicting theories exist. Until we can clear up this matter as to who's in the right, the court can't comfortably side with either one of us."

"Then that just means we need to a little more digging around until we find the truth!" Tails countered in an attempt to break out of this logical stalemate.

"You can dig around as much as you want, but I doubt you'll find anything. After all, you already spent all this time proving that I'm Detective Charles's murderer with hardly any worthwhile evidence under your possession. And now you've come at me with nothing but suppositions and circumstantial evidence against the second murder. With all the floundering about you've been doing for the past few minutes, it's clear you still have nothing to pin any of this on me. If you're hoping to pull off a miraculous win like you did earlier, then I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken."

"Don't underestimate the defense simply they're just a couple of rookies," Vector warned in a tone that sounded a lot like a praise. "I'll admit they have had their share of lucky moments every now and again, but everything they've worked towards has been hard fought and well earned. They've been able to make it this far with the hand they're dealt with; I'm sure they'll find some way to make the best of a seemingly terrible playing field."

"You do have a way with words, Prosecutor Vector," the witness as he rolled his eyes at the crocodile's short speech. "Unfortunately for you, trying to mask your shortcomings behind a hastily raised veil of praise will do little in bettering your current situation. The fact remains that there isn't any evidence to support the claims that you and the defense have brought against me. Until such a thing comes about, my theory of Prosecutor Shadow and the victim fighting over dominance for the gun just moments before the shot stands firm if not at the least on equal footing with yours."

_**End Cross-Examination**_

"Then prepare to have the scales of justice tip to our favor," Sonic quickly exclaimed before Mephiles could get another word in. "Your Honor, the witness has just said something that directly contradicts the evidence!"

"Hmm, it sounds like you're about to go on another one of your bluffing sprees," the old prosecutor goaded as the gallery began to talk amongst themselves. "Very well; I'll go ahead and indulge you for a moment. Just what exactly are you saying you have that can prove either the truthfulness of your theory or the invalidity of mine?"

"I'm sure you'll find the answer for yourself once you've taken a good look at Maria's Autopsy Report," the cobalt hedgehog challenged as he placed the document on the projector. "According to this, she was killed by a single bullet to the head. It goes to say that she died without showing any signs of a struggle. But if we compare that with what you've already testified to in that you heard her and her killer scuffling out in the hallway, then we have ourselves yet another contradiction in your testimony! You could've easily said that you didn't hear anything while cleaning up until the gunshot, so the only reason why I believed you lied once again was so that you could throw us off-track. Is that the truth, or do you have some other convenient excuse that explains this blatant contradiction?"

"Tch, can you really call what I said a lie when I was merely giving you my opinion on a matter that I never witnessed with my own eyes?" the witness quickly countered without any hesitation. It was almost as though he was prepared for that to be brought up. "I know I heard something which sounded like a fight while I was in the bathroom. Perhaps I was simply wrong as to who was responsible for making the noise. Maybe it was in fact the Pryce siblings whom I heard arguing instead. Obviously, there isn't much I can say on the matter as my eyes failed to catch anything. Regardless of what the answer is, squabbling over this fact isn't going to help you prove that I'm the guilty one in this death."

"It's true that this detail amounts to nothing when all is said and done," Tails admitted as he seemed ready to bounce back with another mode of attack. "However, that wasn't the only thing we noticed to be off in your testimony."

"Are you saying you found another contradiction in his testimony?" the Judge asked after quieting down the gallery. "But what exactly is it?"

"Well, let's just assume for a moment that Prosecutor Mephiles's version of things that night is the truth," the fox started as he crossed his arms and prepared for another war of words. "That would mean Prosecutor Shadow shot Ms. Robotnik as she was running away from him. We've already proven that there was no scuffle between them prior to this, so the victim must've made an immediate run for it upon seeing the gun. Shadow then made his way to the hallway where she was already at and shot her dead from his position by the office doorway. These are the conditions stated by the witness's theory."

"However, the report that's been done on this tells us a different story altogether!" the defense attorney took over as he took out the report on the Bullet. "From what forensics has discovered, the Bullet was fired directly parallel to the hallway itself. In other words, it was shot in a straight line with no indication of hitting the side walls at any given time. The doorway to the office is in the middle of the hallway along the right side with a perfect view of the staircase. It'd make sense for Shadow to shoot from there once he had sight of Maria. Yet at the same time, the start of the staircase at the end of the hallway hugs towards the left side. That means the Bullet would've struck the left hallway wall had it missed its target. Since the trajectory doesn't suggest that the shot was fired from where you say it was, that means Shadow wasn't the one who kill her!"

"Wow; that was definitely something I managed to completely miss!" Vector exclaimed in awe at what the defense managed to uncover. "So if we retrace the Bullet's trajectory, we can figure out just where the shooter was standing!"

"But you've yet to disprove Prosecutor Mephiles's theory that Prosecutor Shadow is Ms. Robotnik's true murderer," the old man reminded them as the gallery talked amongst themselves. "I don't see how discovering where the original shot came from will matter if the person you claim isn't responsible is still under suspicion."

"That may be true, but what if I told you that we could figure out who the real culprit is once we've discovered where the gun was fired from?" Sonic suggested as he began looking through the Diagram once more. "It's clear that the Pistol was fired from inside that hallway. In that case, there's only two possible locations where the shooter could be standing. When you take into account the details on the Bullet's trajectory, then it seems more likely than not it was fired from the doorway. It's the only place left where you could fire a gun in a way so that you would never hit any of the side walls. Firing from anywhere else would fail to comply with the details of the Bullet!"

"So you say, but you've only speculations on the matter," Mephiles countered. "Even if you did have the evidence that said otherwise, I fail to see how this will help absolve Prosecutor Shadow of his crime."

"That's because you've forgotten to take your own testimony into account," the fox countered back. "You already testified that you went into the lighthouse after having killed Detective Charles. That means you were the only one who came through the doorway during those moments!"

"I already said that I was in the bathroom cleaning up when the shot took place," the old hedgehog reminded in a low tone. "Just because I entered through the front door like any other civilized person doesn't mean I'm her killer. Someone else could've came in and done her in while I was busy cleaning up and ran before anyone came around."

"Unfortunately for you, Agent Salem's Testimony already discredits that theory," the cobalt hedgehog said. "He immediately went outside upon hearing the shot and kept careful watch over the scene. Also, there's nothing to suggest that either Maxwell or Lois were the ones responsible. If you take all this into account along with how you just tried to make an excuse out of this, then you're the one who's most suspect!"

"Evidence is everything, Mr. Sonic. You may have reasonable suspicions born from what little you could gather, but none of them can lead you to your ultimate answer. I know that you want to pin me for her death, but you have nothing more than a bunch of coincidences to serve as the basis of your argument. After all you've done to convict me as a murderer, I half-expected a better argument than this."

"It may be based off of speculation, but the defense's views are more than enough to cast doubt on your original claim that Shadow is the only one capable of pulling this off," Vector quickly countered. "We understand that it's quite a longshot at this point to pin you for Ms. Robotnik's murder. However, I feel that we've done more than enough at this point to discredit your theory that he played some role in her murder. In turn, it also makes it hard to believe that he had anything to do with the entire kidnapping scheme that facilitated the murders. So even if we're only sending you to prison for a single murder, you're not going to take an innocent person down with you!"

"Is that what you think I've been doing, Prosecutor Vector? I assure you that I have no reason to create a personal vendetta against anybody in this trial. All I've done was take a look at the evidence and interpret them as best as I could. Whether or not I was right, my main goal was to deflect whatever suspicions you had left on me. If all you could muster was proving that Prosecutor Shadow couldn't be responsible for crimes I alleged against him, then it seems as though I've done my job well."

"That's what you're trying to convince us of, but is that actually the truth?" the defense attorney asked much to the old prosecutor's intrigue and annoyance. As happy as he was with Shadow finally being clear from the court's relentless crosshairs, he was not going to let Mephiles get away with a single murder. If that meant he had to bluff his way through this with literally nothing left, then so be it! "Not everything that's been brought up has been explained completely. If you truly wish to deflect all our accusations, then you'd best try and clear up the rest of the inconsistencies in regards to your overall involvement."

"Just what kind of inconsistencies are you talking about, Mr. Sonic?" the Judge asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'm intrigued to hear your explanation as to how these unresolved issues can serve to help your case despite the fact that you have no more evidence."

"Then how about I help kick things off for them?" the crocodile suggested as he crossed his arms and twisted his face in thought. It was clear he caught on to Sonic's bluffing game and was ready to give him a hopefully helpful nudge in the right direction. "If there's no longer any evidence to help prove theirs and mu argument, then perhaps connecting the scattered pieces of information will be enough to create a clear picture. Even I admit that the evidence now proves to be a dead end, but I'm not ready to stop here because of that. I'm sure that the defense will agree with me on this completely."

Without saying a word, Sonic and Tails stared at the prosecutor in thanks for his continued support in this terribly difficult fight. He has already gone so far as to openly admit to and side with their version of events; he was definitely going the extra mile to help them out in any way he could. This meant he still had something up his sleeve, and they were going to go along with him and see where it would take them. All they could hope for now was that this will finally put an end to their long and arduous battle.

"…I'll take it then that the defense has no objections," the old man said after examining their reaction. The entire gallery was dead silent as they waited impatiently for what was going to happen next. The anticipation was so thick in the air; it was enough to make anybody's hair or fur stand on end. "Very well, I'll give the both of you one last chance to convince me that these inconsistencies can prove that Prosecutor Mephiles murdered Ms. Robotnik. Just remember that it all had better be good as there's absolutely no evidence which ties him to her death. If you fail to provide me with an infallible explanation, then I'll call an end to this drawn-out trial. That's my only warning to you all. Now, let's go ahead and hear what you have to say on the matter, Prosecutor Vector."

"To start out with, there's the question as to who is the one responsible for having committed the kidnapping that was the start of this whole mess," Vector began after nodding his head in acknowledgement to the Judge's conditions. "We've already managed to cast heavy doubt on the witness's claims that Prosecutor Shadow had any role in it. And being that he along with the other victims were discovered inside the lighthouse, it's no doubt that someone employed with that company played some role in it all. That means it was either one or all three of the suspects who were in that building at the time of the murders. They were the ones who had clean access to whatever rooms and tools the building provided; a random criminal who just decided to use it as a base would never know of the secret basement door."

"Now that we know that at least one person involved with the Prycey Seafood Company, Agent Salem excluded, is a kidnapper; this leads us to another unresolved issue," Tails continued on once he found an opening to squeeze in a question that has been on his mind since the trial began. "Why would they take the time to transport all four kidnap victims from the basement up to the second floor? No matter how you look at it, this action seems completely redundant for anybody to do.

"The only plausible reason I can come up with is that the kidnapped were never meant to be long-term victims. The basement itself is sealed from any outside contact. There weren't any windows or pipes of any kind that led to the outside, and they made sure any kind of electronic communication was stripped away. It was a perfect place to hide someone without the risk of a random passerby walking by and hearing screams for help. And when the kidnapped played out their usefulness, they'd then be moved to an area that had no chance of implicating the company itself."

"Unfortunately, that supposed plan had an unexpected hitch to it," Sonic argued now that the groundwork was laid out before him courtesy of his partner and the prosecutor. "Detective Charles and Ms. Robotnik caught on to the kidnapping scheme and quickly discovered where the victims were being held. They committed to a rather impromptu rescue mission and paid for it with their lives. We've already covered the details on the detective's death, so it's no longer of any concern. Ms. Robotnik was shot in the back of the head and killed just as she was about to figure out how to open the secret basement door and free the kidnap victims. As we've already discussed, the shooter had to have come from the front doorway as indicated by the Bullet's trajectory.

"This is where the murderer and kidnapper had to improvise," he continued. "With the two rescuers dead, it was too risky to move them to a different location. The chances of police discovering they were moved was too great. Dumping the bodies into the ocean was out of the question since they were a renowned attorney-detective duo. The only thing that could be done was paint the lighthouse as the stage for the kidnap/murder scene. And that's why the four who were kidnapped were moved up to the second floor. It was so they could be easily found when the place was searched and would paint a picture that the two who died did so while on a rescue mission gone wrong."

"My, that's quite a convincing story you all managed to weave," Mephiles chuckled after having carefully listened to every word they said. Despite remaining in his trademark stoic attitude, irritation was rolling off of him in waves. Even his crossed arms held a good amount of annoyance just in body language alone. "And with how you've put such a good label of progression from one event to the next, it sounds very believable. Let's just say for now that it's all true. How does any of it help you prove that I'm Ms. Robotnik's murderer? None of this has anything to do with either me or her!"

"Then how about you think of it this way?" the fox suggested. "With two unscheduled murders, the kidnapping plan was drastically changed. Once the changes were completed, the next thing to be done was to erase any evidence that pointed back to someone with the company as the one responsible. That meant cleaning their clothes and themselves of any blood along with any kinds of telltale fibers on and around the bodies. It's clear they did a good job of tampering with the scene since none of the detectives found anything odd. The perpetrator even went so far as to create false evidence. Of course, I'm talking about the Pistol that had Shadow's fingerprints on it. Only the person he took it from during the struggle would know that the gun had his prints. All they had to do then was wait for the right time to use it against him should the need ever arise like it has now."

"In other words, you're the only one who fits all the things we've described thus far," Vector concluded. "You're a man who's able to think on his feet and quickly adapt to any kinds of unexpected situations. The time when Charmy Bee suddenly came by to testify in my stead yesterday is proof of that. And then there's all the times when Mr. Sonic and his assistant have derailed your arguments during your trial against him. You always fought back with the same level of ferocity.

"Then there's another matter that indicates to us your true involvement in all of this. Of the three people who were in the lighthouse at the time of the murders, you're the only one with enough experience in criminal investigation to know how to tamper with the scene and having it look like nothing was amiss. I mean, you've worked as a prosecutor for well over half of your life. Such experiences has no doubt left you with a well of knowledge as to how detectives work. Even I knew a bit about the whole process before I took up my little side business as a freelance detective agency. And being the control freak that you are with any investigations that come your way, I don't find it a stretch to say that you were able to garner lots of unrestricted and unsupervised access for both bodies.

"And finally, there's the Pistol that has Shadow's fingerprints on it. You said earlier in your testimony that it was on top of your desk. I think it safe to say then that you acknowledge ownership of the murder weapon through that alone since you appeared indifferent when testifying about it. I believe you now when you say that it was where you say it was. However, that was after you were in a scuffle with Shadow and he momentarily took possession of it. You were merely handling it with great care so as to not disrupt your potential trump card. You knew the prints wouldn't be enough to blame him for Ms. Robotnik's murder, but it was enough to create needless confusion throughout the investigation. And if push came to shove, you'd be able to use it in a falsified indictment as you already did not so long ago."

"Of all the inconsistencies we've brought up along with their unique conditions, you're the only one who fits them all," Sonic said with a sigh after literally going on an explanation binge. "I don't know if you're the original kidnapper, but you certainly played some role in it after the fact. Out of the three people that were in the lighthouse, you were the only one who had any kind of knowledge of how investigations worked and how to tamper with the scene without raising any red flags. At the least, it's enough to have you charged as an accessory to kidnapping after the fact!

"At the same time, all of this lends credence to the idea that you had something to do with Ms. Robotnik's death. Just by examining the Pistol itself, it's clear that the scene of her murder was compromised. You've already admitted that the gun belongs to you despite your prints not being on it. And since your prints wasn't on it, you put it next to her body so as to distract the investigation from the truth!"

"And you're saying you can prove I murdered her with all these pretty words you've spewed out?" the old hedgehog asked. "I'll admit that everything you said is sound and can easily fall back on what has already been presented. However, you already said that it all gives the idea that I merely had something to do with it. You've nothing else to help propel your claims beyond that!"

"… … …Fortunately for us, you're wrong on that," Tails said after thinking hard on the subject. "It's true that we've run out of evidence to use against you. However, there's still one more avenue of attack that's still available to us. In short, we still have a witness who can help us clear all remaining questions as to whether or not you're the one who shot that gun! All we need to do is ask him to come and testify about what he knows."

"…Are you talking about Maxwell Pryce?" Vector asked. His tone was somewhat confused yet intrigued at the same time. "It's true that he was also at the lighthouse on the night the murders took place. Are you suggesting that we have him testify as to where he was during the time of Ms. Robotnik's murder?"

"Looks like you caught on quick, Prosecutor Vector," the fox responded with a confident smile. "The only thing keeping us from being able to indict Prosecutor Mephiles for this second murder is whether or not he was the only one able to fire that gun. Since the good prosecutor is insistent that he's innocent, the only person left we can ask to clear up this matter is Mr. Pryce. We've no idea what he and his sister were doing there at that moment, so figuring that out will serve as proof whether or not our theory is correct. And being that he hasn't been around since we started this trial, I'm sure there isn't going to be any problems of him being biased as he doesn't know what we've already covered."

"Unbiased or not, his words mean nothing unless it can be backed up with evidence," the witness countered, his worry barely escaping past his calm façade.

"That's true, but it's easy to circumvent that depending on the questions we want him to answer," the cobalt hedgehog added with the same confident smile as his partner. "We can ask about where he and his sister was in the lighthouse and what they were doing. If he doesn't say anything about either of them having entered through the front doors just moments before Ms. Robotnik was killed, then both of them are innocent in that regard. After all, we've already proven that the only place the gun could be fired was from that doorway.

"At the same time, what he testifies to will either prove you innocent or guilty in this matter. You've already testified earlier that you went through those doors right after killing Detective Charles. And based on how you testified about having done nothing but look at the Pistol as you passed by it, it's quite likely you're the one who owns it. Only the owner would walk on by without giving it a second thought. All we need now is Mr. Pryce's testimony to cement everything we've fought for all this time. I'm sure that he'll be more than happy to help us out being that he hates his sister for having forced him to unwillingly participate in all these illegal activities. The only thing we want to know from you now is how you want this to play out. Are you ready to admit to your crime, or are you going to wait until Mr. Pryce comes to testify and prove your guilt?"

"… … …Do what you will," Mephiles murmured so quietly that almost nobody could hear what he was saying. "I refuse to say anything more on the matter."

"B-but refusing to object is as much of a confession of guilt at this point!" the Judge exclaimed. "Both the defense and prosecution have already adequately explained through the backings of presented evidence that you had something to do with Ms. Robotnik's murder. To not refute at this point suggests that you accept their claims as they are!"

"You can interpret my decision however you like, but I've nothing more to say," the old prosecutor repeated. Just like it was earlier, a small hint of panic slipped through with his words. "Feel free to do what you want at this point. If you really want the truth behind this case, then I suggest you listen to what Mr. Pryce has to say."

"…I suppose that's all we can do now," the old man sighed before banging his gavel. "Bailiff; please call the detention center and have them take Mr. Pryce's testimony about what he was doing in the lighthouse during the murders five years ago. I doubt they'll let him come here right now, so a record of his words shall suffice. One way or another, this is going to end with whatever he has to say on this. Until then, nobody is to enter or leave this courtroom."

"Do you think we finally got him?" Tails asked as the gallery began talking amongst themselves. "Can Mr. Pryce's testimony really be the one singular piece of evidence that can bind our case together?"

"I can only hope at this point," the defense attorney replied with a heavy sigh. "Max is practically a wild card. What he has to say is either going to make or break our case. I guess now's a good a time as any to see just how much he really hates his sister for dragging him into Mephiles's smuggling ring."

As the minutes slowly ticked away, the entire courtroom waited anxiously to hear what Max had to say. Vector was nervously fiddling with his headphone cords while listening to whatever music was blasting through it. Mephiles still stood at the witness stand but was now lacking that cockily aggressive aura he normally exuded. In fact, this was probably the first time Sonic and Tails had ever seen him show any semblance of nervousness in the three days they had dealt with him. He was probably nervous about what his former coworker might say and had no means of controlling what was to happen next.

It was about a good half hour before the bailiff returned. Everyone immediately fell silent and watched in anticipation as the man walked up to the Judge. He had in his hand a manila envelope that no doubt held Max's written statement on the matter. It was now the moment of truth; whatever words that lay hidden in that envelope would either bring the truth to light or shove it into the deception of darkness.

"It's time to see what Mr. Pryce has to say about all this," the Judge announced as he took the envelope and opened it. He then took the paper in his hands and read the contents aloud:

"_On the night the double murders took place, I was in the lighthouse along with my sister. We were busy doing some work prescribed to us by the head of the smuggling ringleader. I was to keep watch over the four kidnap victims; Lois served as lookout on the roof of the lighthouse and made sure the cops weren't coming. She saw Mephiles kill someone outside and informed me of it through text. By that time, I had already knocked out the kidnap victims. She continued to text me and even sent me an incomplete one the moment after I heard a gun go off. She immediately texted me asking if I heard that. If you want proof of our conversation, then just take a look through my cell phone's history of text messages. I thought I could somehow use it as a blackmailing ticket against the smuggling ringleader, so I made sure to preserve it. I guess it's time to make good use of my foresight._"

"…It sounds as though we've finally got our answer," Vector replied after hearing what Max had to say. "Mr. Pryce has testified that neither he nor his sister were anywhere near where Ms. Robotnik was killed. In fact, he even has text messages received from Lois moments after she saw Prosecutor Mephiles kill Detective Charles. I'm sure that if we're to look through that, we'll see the validity of his words."

"Well, it just so happens that we have those transcripts with us along with his testimony," the old man stated as he took out another sheet of paper from the envelope and put it up on the projector. "Let's see if this does indeed back up what Mr. Pryce has testified."

_**From: Lois; 12:59:46 A.M.**__ Just so you know; I saw the boss kill someone._

_**To: Lois; 12:59:59 A.M.**__ Are you sure, Lois? I thought he said the kidnapping was only meant for bargaining purposes._

_**From: Lois; 1:00:17 A.M.**__ I guess something came up that even he failed to take into account. Doesn't matter much since he's already done it._

_**To: Lois; 1:00:41 A.M.**__ Hmm, did you see where he went?_

_**From: Lois; 1:00:54 A.M.**__ He just came into the lighthouse. He did get hurt during the fight, so I guess_

_**From: Lois; 1:01:01 A.M.**__ Did you hear that?_!

_**To: Lois; 1:01:14 A.M.**__ That sounded like it came from inside! Was it a gunshot?_

_**From: Lois; 1:01:28 A.M.**__ I think it was, but who would the boss be shooting at in here?_

_**From: Lois; 1:01:41 A.M.**__ Damn, the new guy heard the shot! He's coming from the warehouse and is calling the police. So much for going to dispose of the body._

_**To: Lois; 1:01:55 A.M.**__ Oh boy; here's to hoping the boss didn't leave any evidence that could point back to him._

_**From: Lois; 1:02:17 A.M.**__ Don't underestimate him. He's got enough foresight to avoid trouble before it even begins. How do you think he's managed to net us so much money without raising red flags from the international community?_

_**From: The Boss; 1:02:20 A.M.**__ Hurry and get up here, Max! There was a sneaky rat I had to kill, and I need your help to fix the scene. I've already taken care of her detective partner, so we shouldn't have any disruptions for the time being._

_**To: Lois; 1:03:28 A.M.**__ We'll talk about this later, Lois. The boss is calling me up to help him clean after his own mess. Don't forget to text him about that stupid black cat having called the police._

_**From: Lois; 1:03:46 A.M.**__ Got it. I'll keep watch up here and tell you when I see the police coming around._

"…Well, the timestamps on each conversation is definitely around the time when Ms. Robotnik was said to have been killed," the crocodile stated after reading the texts, his arms now crossed in triumph. "And the things mentioned certainly condemning against the one responsible for the murders. The only problem with this is that Mephiles's name isn't directly mentioned at any point during the conversation."

"But the clues we find throughout the discussion is enough to prove it was him that the Pryce siblings were talking about," Sonic objected. "We've already proven that Prosecutor Mephiles killed Detective Charles, so 'The Boss' mentioned in the texts can only be referring to him. And when we put that together with what 'The Boss' said about having to kill a woman that snuck in, I think it's safe to say that he was also responsible for Ms. Robotnik's murder. Therefore, I believe that we've adequately proven through both evidence and testimony that the witness standing before us was the sole person responsible for the murders that facilitated the start of the LK-9 Incident!"

"… … …It sounds like you've finally arrived at the truth you've been feverishly seeking all this time," the old hedgehog stated with an unreadable smirk. "To be honest, I'm amazed that Max actually had the balls to testify against me. After all we've been through the past five years, I thought he'd be more merciful to me."

"Apparently, you haven't been treating him well enough so that he would feel the want to protect you," Tails deadpanned. "It's actually pretty funny how things like this can come back to haunt you. Had you only gave Mr. Pryce the treatment he deserved for standing by you these past five years, he just might've lied for your sake and destroy our case against you. But since you didn't, he's now helping us in convicting you of two murders."

"…Yes, I suppose all this does have some kind of sick humor to it. And to think that I've prided myself in my ability to foresee problems before they arise. Never in the history of my life would I have thought that the four children I kidnapped would come together and take me down. You truly are a force to be reckoned with."

"…Am I to take this then as a confession of guilt on?" the Judge asked. He appeared somewhat surprised at what he just heard yet was at the same time relatively calm as though he anticipating it somewhat.

"As much as I hate to say this, I admit to the murder of Ms. Maria Robotnik. As such, I also admit to being the one responsible for the double-murders. And to think I would've gotten away with this had this trial been called off an hour ago. Luck must truly be on your side today, Mr. Sonic."

"You're still pretty full of it, aren't you?" the cobalt hedgehog responded while shaking his head. "Luck did play some role in me being able to get this far, but the skills I've learned over the past few months were what really helped me today. And as pushy and questionable your techniques have been, you also taught me an important lesson. Evidence is everything, and it's all pointed towards you as nothing more than a cold-blooded killer!

"But do you know what the real difference between you and me is? And no, it's not that you're a veteran and I'm a rookie. Throughout both cases that pitted us against each other, I've always had someone who I could fall back on for help. I always had someone to lend me their help whenever I found myself stuck. Not once during both trials was I ever alone in my quest to defend my clients.

"You, on the other hand, have always relied only on yourself and your ability to warp the truth just enough to obscure information and still be admissible. You never trusted anybody with anything. You insist on controlling every aspect of the investigation so as to hinder the defense's progress and retain all known information to yourself. It's true that you're able to handle even the most random of happenings in court, but your cold and arrogant attitude has proven to be your downfall today. Like my partner just said, you probably would've been able to get away with Ms. Robotnik's murder had you only treated your partner-in-crime with the respect he no doubt deserved over the past five years. What you lacked with Mr. Pryce was also missing with those you worked with during investigations."

"Ha, so you're saying trust is the key to winning in a court of law?" Mephiles asked, his tone even yet slowly becoming hostile. "All attorneys should be trusting the outcome of their cases on those who have no role in the courtroom itself? Ha, what a childishly naïve sentiment! When we're in this sacred room dealing with murderers, there's no such thing as trust. The only thing that we can rely upon is our ability to put away all defendants who dare to come through here trying to preach to us their façade of innocence!

"Why do you think I fight so hard to obtain guilty verdicts? I only have the goodwill of the people in mind. One less criminal on the street simply means a city that much safer from the unthinkable. When I took on the job as one of this city's prosecutors, I swore that I would do anything in my power to put away all criminals who dare to cross my path. Why should I show them mercy when they've shown less than that to their victims?

"Why can't any of you understand that my actions have made the city safe?" he questioned everybody with his arms raised. "It's through my convictions that you're all able to live the comfortable lives you have today. Ensuring your safety is all that any prosecutor is obligated to do. So what if my methods were questionable? The fact that most defense attorneys are too inept to fight back proves they never had a case to begin with!

"But then came along Maria Robotnik and Charles Hedgehog!" he spat out with heavy venom at their names. "They had high hopes of wanting to revolutionize the way law was being portrayed in court. They decided to meander around in crime scenes and wherever else their noses didn't belong. They even had the gall to go poking around in one of my investigations for the sake of a defense attorney I was up against! They definitely didn't know their place, and I was more than ready to put them in line."

"And that's when you concocted the whole kidnapping scheme," Vector stated, his arms crossed as they had nothing better to do. Amazingly, he had listened completely to the witness's rather maniacal rant. "You planned to pressure them into stopping their means of conducting investigations in order to preserve your twisted philosophy."

"It was only meant to be for bargaining purposes. I threatened to kill the hostages unless he agreed to know his place in the legal world and stop poking his nose in prosecutorial business. Unfortunately, I completely underestimated his detective skills. I was quite surprised when he and that woman realized it was me and came to where I was holding the children. Since they knew too much, I couldn't just let them live and ruin me.

"Of course, Detective Charles was merely acting as a decoy when he fought me. Maria was the one who snuck in while I was preoccupied. It wasn't until after I won my skirmish did I realize she was in the lighthouse. I quickly ran inside and shot her like the dog she was. And to think that she was so close to rescuing the children herself."

"And you did all this simply because they were conducting their business in a way that went against your ideals?" Tails inquired. "You willingly committed a crime just so you could maintain your philosophy of what a prosecutor's job should be?"

"As I said, they didn't know their place. A defense attorney's job is to merely provide their clients with a defense. That means they're to defend criminals, and I can't allow that to happen. Them investigating crime scenes for themselves simply opens the risk of contamination of evidence. In turn, that can destroy the prosecution's case!

"Criminals should never be given even a single inch of space to move. Everyone who comes into the courtroom pleading their innocence is nothing but a conman! Defending them is just as criminal as the crimes they've committed. We must do everything in our power to cast upon them judgment for their crimes! Allowing even one to go free would be a disservice to the people we've sworn to protect. It's our responsibility given to us by the people of this city to convict all who enter here! That…is our sworn duty as emissaries of the law!" he concluded as he slammed his fists on the podium for added emphasis.

"… … …I object, Prosecutor Mephiles," Sonic calmly replied after having listened to the witness's confessional and philosophically skewed rant. He could not even bring himself to be angry at the one who murdered his uncle and turned his life upside-down. Just hearing him spit out his twisted view of what the law should be was enough to dull his anger and leave behind pity for a man who has fallen so far. "It isn't merely to convict every man who comes in to defend themselves of crimes they're accused of. Our true duty as defenders of the law is to uncover the truth. It doesn't matter who's right or wrong. The true victory in any trial comes only when the truth has been attained. _That_ is the meaning of our work!"

For a few seconds, the entire courtroom was dead silent. It was as though they were all trying to digest everything that had just taken place. It was no doubt a shock for all to see the man they once highly respected fall from grace in more ways than one. The reign of his twisted philosophy of how the law should work had come to an end.

"…Bailiff, please escort Mephiles out of the courtroom," the Judge announced. His lack of title for said man was indicative enough of the loss of respect he felt. The bailiff did just that and escorted the witness out in handcuffs. All the while, the old hedgehog had an unreadable smile planted on his face as he left the room.

"…Never in my life would I thought this case would come to such a conclusion," the old man said once the former prosecutor had left. "It's been shuffled into cold case storage for the past five years and showed no progress until this day. It's amazing how both the defense and prosecution have managed to solve what many before you could not in the span of a day! I've no doubt that the law will be safe in your hands."

"We only did what we could, Your Honor," Vector simply responded. He had since fully taken off his headset and rested it atop his desk as though he were paying respect for what this moment in time meant. "The law can never be safe in just the hands of two people. Only when both sides of the law work together to come to the truth can the law ever serve its true purpose. Mephiles has clearly lost sight of that. We merely exposed his corruption before his viral ways crippled our city's society."

"And I can only hope this case will serve as an example of how all attorneys should act in the future," the old man agreed with a nod. "We've allowed ourselves to become accustomed to the ruthless style of proceedings on the prosecution's part. I feel that today's proceedings will bring about a reform across the board on how we conduct future business.

"However, all of that will have to wait for another day. For now, it's probably best that we call an official end to this trial. After all, Mephiles did accuse Shadow of murder with a surprisingly sound argument during his attempts at avoiding his crime. Even if for formality's sake, let's tie up all these legal loose ends so they won't come back to haunt us. So without further ado, I'm ready to render my verdict. This court finds Prosecutor Shadow Hedgehog not guilty in the murder of Defense Attorney Maria Robotnik! With this verdict comes the official end of this five-year-old case. Court is now adjourned!"

With a bang of his gavel, the case was officially closed. He then got up from his seat and retreated back into his chambers. The members of the gallery got up and slowly made their way out of the courtroom. All the while, they animatedly talked amongst themselves about what they just bore witness to. Only the defense and prosecution stood quietly where they were as the fact of their hard-won victory slowly sunk in.

"You two truly are a force to be reckoned with," Silver commended as he, Knuckles, and Shadow walked down from the gallery. "What I saw happen just now is something I couldn't achieve myself during my three years of investigation. And to think that the one responsible was the man whose power all respected! Never in a million years would he have ever come under my radar as a suspect!"

"I think we were all taken aback when his name suddenly popped up," Knuckles stated as he made his way towards Sonic and Tails. "I mean, who ever heard of such a respected figure in law committing such terrible crimes? What makes it all the more embarrassing for us is that he was right under our noses working beside us the entire time! I can only imagine what the front pages will say once the media gets wind of this. And that's not to mention all the cases that he's worked on which will no doubt be put under review now."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee started reforming the current layout of our jobs tomorrow," Shadow sighed as he stood next to the witness stand and placed a hand on it. "Mephiles did manage to earn their trust thanks to his many years of experience in delivering consistent conviction results. They're no doubt going to be more than a little pissed at their trust being so badly taken advantage of. I can't even think of the kind of damage he could've done if he managed to get a seat in the committee. And the worst part of it were the rumors that he was going to try for one of the open positions!"

"I've heard that the committee is pretty ruthless when they reform current prosecutorial practices," Sonic stated as he collected the evidence and placed them in his folder. "And thanks to Mephiles's major corruption, I wouldn't doubt that they'd look at every prosecutor as though they were just as crooked. I hate to think that you and Vector are going to have to go through all that just because of what one man did."

"You don't have to be that concerned over us, Sonic," Vector assured with a lighthearted chuckle. He had already collected all of his evidence and had his headset resting over his neck. The courtroom had also emptied out except for the attorneys and detectives. "Shadow and I have made it a point to only fight for the truth during all of our cases. We only maintain our position that the defendant is guilty unless enough evidence that happens to say otherwise has been presented. You've already seen that for yourself when you faced off against us. The committee shouldn't be that embarrassed so as to overlook that."

"Still, I think it best that we start preparing ourselves for an inquiry," the ebon hedgehog cautioned. "They're most likely going to employ a ruthless auditor to weed out those they feel are either too corrupt or ill-suited to hold a prosecutor's badge. If we want to stay out of their crosshairs, then we better get our affairs in order and make sure we sound as good as possible. God only knows how much sucking up we'll have to do."

"Wow, you're the last person I'd ever think would suck up to anybody," Tails said with a low groan as though he were sharing the other's pain. "And what about things at the Precinct? I can only imagine how deep his influence was with detectives. I mean, his method of obtaining and submitting evidence has been more than questionable."

"We're probably going to see the same kind of reform conducted through an independent auditor," Silver supposed with a shrug. "But like it is with Shadow and Vector, Knuckles and I shouldn't have too much to worry. Nowhere in our records have we ever worked with Mephiles. The last case was my first time working with him, but the only time I ever spoke with him was on the first day of that trial. Even then, he didn't seem to give me the same treatment that he's notorious for giving other detectives."

"He probably figured your reputation for thorough and truthful investigations would make it difficult for him to control," Knuckles suggested. "I'm just glad he never considered working with detectives of my level. I'd probably get into a fight with him the moment he starts to boss me around."

"Alright, can we please stop talking about that man already?" the cobalt hedgehog asked exasperatedly. "He's right now getting what he deserves, so let's just pretend he never existed and move onto something else. Namely, how about we go out for dinner and celebrate the fact that we've finally solved the LK-9 Case? I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast, and I don't know of a better time than now to eat!"

"I think that's a great idea!" the crocodile agreed with a wide grin. "Let's all go together and have a humongous celebration party! The guests of honor here is going to be you and Tails, the ones who solved a case that past detectives and attorneys couldn't do!"

"Do you mind if you had a couple of tagalongs to your party?" a familiar voice asked. Turning towards the courtroom entrance, the group saw Salem and Leon standing there. "I'd also like to celebrate the birth of an amazing attorney."

"Hey, what're you guys still doing here?" the defense attorney asked. "I figured you guys would be heading back at your home base or something after this. I mean, the reason for you staying here is over now."

"That's true, but we kind of wanted to congratulate you on doing such a great job!" Leon explained as he approached Tails and gave him a friendly nudge. "Interpol has looked through the LK-9 Case so many times due to its involvement with the smuggling ring but never got as far as you guys did. Seriously, it was almost like something out of a courtroom drama how you all managed to bounce back from every contradiction Mephiles threw at you!"

"Speaking of smuggling, what're you going to do about that?" Shadow inquired as he reverted to his usual business-like tone. "If the former prosecutor really was the ringleader, then I don't see any reason for you to still be here."

"Unfortunately, we still need evidence proving that he's the leader," Salem sighed. "It's pretty hard to let a claim like that stick with only our limited firsthand experiences with him. However, I'm thinking that everything the defense and prosecution has presented during the trial will serve as some rather damning evidence against him. After all, some things were touched on during the proceedings that I'm sure Interpol would be more than interested in wanting to sift through. All we have to do is to put in a formal request with the Judge to have all the evidence transferred to us."

"You don't have to worry about that, Agent Salem," a familiarly deep voice cut in. "I've already started with the paperwork for the evidence transferal."

"D-Dr. Robotnik!" both Sonic and Tails exclaimed as he walked into the courtroom. Then Sonic asked, "When did you get here?"

"Just a little after the trial ended," the portly man simply explained. "I'm extremely proud at the job you've done, Sonic. You've definitely come a long way from when I first hired you as a rookie attorney. I only hope that the clue I left for you proved helpful."

"Oh, it was definitely a case-breaker for us, sir! Still, it was quite a shock to hear that you were Salem's and Leon's superior here in Mobius. Never in a million years would I've guessed you were an Interpol Agent."

"It's a detail that I keep to myself," the man said despite the look of shock he got from the others apart from the Interpol brothers. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid my time here has been compromised the moment Mephiles was named prime suspect in the LK-9 Case. Because of that, I'm afraid I'll have to make myself scarce for the time being. I suggest that you two do the same as well," he added as he stared at Salem and Leon.

"I guess this means your mission here is over for the most part," the young fox said. "But couldn't you at least join us in our celebratory dinner before leaving? It's because of your help that Sonic and I were able to get as far as we did. If it weren't for that picture, I don't think we would've been able to pin Mephiles at the lighthouse."

"I wish I could, but I served as his right-hand man after having worked my way into the smuggling ring. Of course, that's provided our assumptions of him being the ringleader are correct. Still, I'm more than confident all the evidence you've brought against him will serve to help us nail him for that. I guess you could say that it's a combination of work and necessity that I must leave. I probably won't be coming back here for obvious safety reasons, so I decided to come over and say goodbye.

"But before I forget, I've a little something for you, Sonic," he added before reaching into his jacket and pulling out an envelope. "This is the deed to the Robotnik Law Firm. It was given to me by Interpol as part of my undercover position. However, I managed to convince them to relinquish the title over to you. You've more than earned your stay in my law firm; I hardly see how it'd be fair for me to make you leave simply because I can't continue with my undercover persona. You can change the name to something that fits your taste or keep as it is now; the decision is yours to make."

For a few seconds, everybody in the group stood silent as Dr. Robotnik handed the envelope to a stunned Sonic. Most in the group who knew the man never even thought that he was with Interpol; now they see Sonic being handed ownership to a law firm and thus officially becoming a business owner!

"…Congratulations, Sonic!" Vector exclaimed as he was the first to recover from the shock of everything. "You're already starting to build yourself a reputable name amongst all defense attorneys!"

Everybody else quickly joined in with the congratulations. Tails and Knuckles were standing next to Sonic trying to snap him out of his stupor. Vector was busy shaking his hand and going on about how great everything had turned out. Salem and Leon were standing slightly off to the side to avoid the chaos yet looked upon it with congratulatory smiles. Both Silver and Shadow were still somewhat dumbfounded at how the sometimes immature defense attorney was suddenly the owner of his own law firm, but they quickly recovered and joined in on the ecstatic atmosphere. Dr. Robotnik merely stepped back and watch the entire thing unfold before him with an amused chuckle.

After everything that has happened up to this point, all of it seemed too surreal to Sonic. Not only did they managed to figure out who was responsible for killing his uncle and Shadow's best friend; they also took down the most respected prosecutor in the city! Then they managed to help Interpol further their investigation into the smuggling ring while also presenting further suspicion onto the man they just convicted. And to top it all off, he had been presented by his now former boss the deed to the Robotnik Law Firm.

He finally has closure on a case that has haunted him and his friends for the past five years. He was able to help Interpol out with taking down a notorious international smuggling ring. He has obtained notoriety within the legal community for both solving a case many had thought impossible and taking down a well-known but corrupted prosecutor. And now, he was the proud owner of his very own business thanks in no small part to his now former boss. All this definitely sounded like something out of an amazingly good ending to some old-fashion crime drama. But even though he was not a big fan of such clichéd endings, this was one time where he had no objections whatsoever with it.

* * *

><p>Well, here we are. We've finally finished the entire story! And Sonic has gotten a lot more reward out of it apart from the closure of having finally solved his uncle's murder! Like I said in the final sentence, I'm not a big fan of cliched endings. However, I think that it's the only thing appropriate in this case, especially since I actually somehow managed to pull out of my butt an ending where Mephiles gets convicted for Maria's murder! I think I deserve to put in a cliched ending just because of that!<p>

Seriously, that was the hardest conviction I ever had to write for this story! I know I've said that a lot, but I really mean it with this. Even though he was just a product of my imagination, Mephiles has hounded me the moment I introduced him to this story! You'd think he'd show mercy to the one who created his persona for this story, but even I can't escape his ruthless attitude.

Still, it was all well worth the suffering, and I'm amazed to hear myself say that I'll be missing that feeling of helplessness during typing a lot. I don't know if I'll ever make another mystery story like this; it takes a lot of time and dedication to get it on here. But if I do make another one, then I promise that it's going to be a sequel to this one! However, don't be expecting anything like that to happen. Perhaps I'll consider it once college has slowed down for me and I'm in the mood for another bout of mystery. God only knows what other kinds of amazing crimes I'll be able to pull out of my butt next time!

But yeah, the next chapter on here is nothing more than an epilogue stating how the characters are doing a few days after this trial. Like I said at the beginning author's note, it's nothing significant that would make you feel like you want to read it. But if you want to, then feel free! It's basically my version of the credits like how its typically done in the Phoenix Wright games.

I'd like to thank all you readers out there for having read this from beginning to end. I also thank you for bearing with my rather random update times that were sometimes fast or a few months slow, especially that one time where I accidentally stopped updating for like nine months. I know how annoying that is for you readers, and it means a lot to me that you stuck with it despite it. Seriously, you're all the reason why I got myself to finish this rather enjoyable story!

I'm not going to bother asking you to leave a review simply because it's now the end. That and I've already said it at the top of the story. Instead, I'll say in terms of this story goodbye. The trials and investigations are now officially over, and Sonic and the gang have done what other detectives and attorneys before them failed to do. I hope to see some of you guys in my other stories on this site even though they're nowhere near being mysteries! Thanks for your support, and I hope that I'll have both the time and ability to create an amazing sequel to this! Just don't keep your hopes up; it's not a definite promise it'll happen. Rather, it's merely an open-ended possibility.


	39. Epilogue

Hello everybody! Here's the absolute final chapter to this story! Actually, it's more of an epilogue than anything. Still, I thought I might as well go all the way with the traditional "Phoenix Wright" theme and add the character summation. Then again, there were just a couple more things I wanted to touch on that had nothing to do with the last case. As such, this epilogue chapter was born. So don't expect anything apart from senseless talking and how everybody's doing now that the case is over and the shadows of their past resolved.

Yeah, it's basically just a few days after the resolution of the LK-9 Case. It's the aftermath left behind Mephiles's surprising indictment and the mess he created in the legal world. I promise you that there isn't going to be anything crazy apart from some normal playful antics and whatnot. Just enjoy this stress-free and trial-less chapter along with my attempts to put in some funny bits. I swear; there probably wasn't a lot of them in this due to how serious everything was with the investigations and whatnot. Then again, I'm sure I unintentionally put in some funny bits along the way without me knowing it.

Thank you all once again for having read and supported this story with your reviews and compliments. Seriously, I don't think I'd ever have gotten this finished if it weren't for all of you guys. What with college and work going down on me, it was pretty hard to really stay committed to this story. Still, I pulled through it and am glad that I finished this. Now I can move on to other stories that have been on my mind. And who knows? Maybe one of them will serve as a sequel to this story. You never know, but I will say that it's currently stewing away in my head right now. See you all on one of my other stories that are on here!

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><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

_Amy Rose_

"So, is the story any good to you?" Amy asked as she sat across from the editor for the Mobius Times in her office. It was a simple room filled with typical office furnishings along with its own personal homey touches. A large window served as one of the walls which served as a good vantage point for all the cubicles and employees that occupied them. "I wrote it the best I could with all the materials I managed to gather. Granted that there was a lot for me to go through since I had a keen interest with the trial from the moment it started. It's probably going to be the top read of the week!"

"Oh, I don't doubt that for a minute, Ms. Rose," the woman agreed as she put down the paper and took off her glasses. She was the boss of the Mobius Times and had just finished looking at Amy's first ever piece of journalism work outside of high school. "Ever since the prosecutorial scandal was brought to light a few days ago, I've been stormed with journalists with differing experience. All that they've presented has been nothing but subpar articles with hardly any hands-on facts to back up their claims.

"However, your article certainly has an adequate amount of factual information in it," she added. "And taking into account that you were also called as a witness in the case that preceded the infamous incident down at the Mobius Harbor; all the material you've presented certainly has a hint of your personal experience to it. You definitely have a talent for writing a captivating story while also sticking within the boundary of your sources. I still find it hard to believe that you're only a high school student."

"Well, journalism has always been my passion," the pink hedgehog replied with a bright smile. "I've been nominated as president in my school's journalism club two times since I first joined as a sophomore. I also happen to have good intuition for what might be a good story and keep good records of any information I come across. I always keep up-to-date with the news, and I want to make that possible for everyone else."

"Hmm, perhaps you would be interested in working for the Mobius Times under an internship program," the lady suggested after a moment of consideration. She then reached into her desk and pulled out a piece of paper with something printed on it while the young girl looked on in shock at what she just heard. "We just so happen to offer intern positions here for students such as you who strive for a career in the world of journalism. It's obviously a position that has no salary, but the experience you get will help give you a bit of a leg up in this business. We also allow you to play a role in the editing of stories as well as seeing how the entire process works. I'm sure it might be redundant of me to ask; but would you be interested in enrolling for our internship program?"

"I'm certainly more than interested!" Amy exclaimed so loud that some of the workers outside the office looked through the window to see what was happening. Even the woman was slightly taken aback, but she quickly recovered and chuckled at the other's eagerness. "I always wanted to work for a newspaper company, and this will definitely be a step in the right direction. You have no idea what this chance to work here means to me. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity!"

"I'm more than glad to have you onboard with the newspaper," the woman said with a smile before offering a hand to the other who gladly took it. "All we need to do now is have your parents sign a form that allows you to intern with us. Once we have their permission, you'll be allowed to intern here for as long as a year starting at the moment when we receive the form. Of course, we'll always be happy to renew your internship if you want to.

"And since you'll be an official part of the Mobius Times family, your article will be eligible for a position in the newspapers. I'm sure it'll also have a small position in the front pages seeing that this is going to be rather big news."

"Oh, I'm definitely going to have a fun summer this year!" the pink hedgehog squealed in delight as she happily took the consent form that was handed to her. "And to think that me being called as a witness would serve to jumpstart my career!"

_Salem and Leon_

"Did you finish your report yet, Leon?" Salem asked as he walked into the office the two of them shared at Interpol Headquarters. It was sparsely decorated with only a desk and few other bits of essential office furniture, but it was clearly well used as noted by the weathered carpeting and the overflow of papers in the paper shredder. "We need to get them turned in to the higher-ups by the end of today."

"I'm almost done, but the stupid recorder keeps acting up," Leon grumbled as he pawed at a machine that had no doubt been created for him to use. He had been mashing at a button but was receiving no response. "This thing keeps shutting down on me. I've already complained to maintenance about it, but I guess their time is more important than me keeping my job."

"You sure you're not doing something wrong like last time?" the black cat teased as he walked on over. "Remember how you accidentally pressed the erase button and was recording nothing the whole time?"

"How long are you going to keep reminding me about that? It was my first time using this thing; I think I was allowed a learning curb then. And it didn't help that they just gave it to me without any instructions. I had to figure it all on my own!

"But anyway, let's forget about this for now," the lion dismissed before abandoning the machine and walking to the desk. "How about you tell me what the big guys talked about at the meeting? Have the higher-ups decided how they're going to proceed with the smuggling case? I mean, we did literally risk our lives to get them this info."

"Well, I've got some good news to report," the other replied as he took a seat on one of the chairs. "Thanks to the efforts of Sonic and his friends, we managed to get enough evidence to say that we've got the smuggling ringleader. There're still a couple of things that need to be cleared up, but the higher-ups are confident now that we have enough to convince the judge. I think the only thing left to do is to file the paperwork on it all.

"And to make things better, we managed to figure out a few of Mephiles's smuggling connections," he added with a hint of pride in his voice. "Now that we're comfortable saying we got our main man, we looked even closer to his actions over the past five years. Oddly enough, all of the cases Sonic took were connected through those he managed to convict.

"Mr. Eulb was the harbor worker who used his position to sneak around smuggled goods and alter the cargo manifest. He was one of their access points for smuggling in stolen goods. The now deceased Detective Sleuth was a respectable officer of reasonable rank where he could listen in on conversation concerning smuggling actions. He was also able to alter any police reports which concerned known members. And Espio served as Mephiles's second-hand man just under Dr. Robotnik and used his skills to handle any covert operations and to plug up any potential leaks like Kuro Rose. It's just too bad he got to her right after she said she was going to defect from the ring and provide us with information in exchange for immunity. Seriously, we need to work on getting those witness protection papers processed faster."

"Jeez, I didn't Sonic would've been even indirectly involved for one of his trials much less every single one in his career. Then again, I guess it makes sense now why he and his friends were targeted. All this effort was so they could kill the only witnesses who could potentially solve the LK-9 Case which could unravel the smuggling operations if solved. It's amazing how they went through all that effort just to be beaten at every turn by a rookie defense attorney. How's it feel to finally have it all this craziness come to a close?"

"Not as good as knowing you're okay after having gotten yourself into some big trouble during the whole thing. I still can't believe you let an old man get the better of you and lock you in the warehouse office. I've been worried the moment you didn't give me a call. Haven't I taught you anything about keeping yourself safe?"

"Alright, Salem; you don't have to keep reminding me about that!" Leon groaned. "I've already been embarrassed enough when I explained it to Dr. Robotnik. I don't need you going down my throat about it again. I'm just happy that the Chaotix Detective Agency were able to find me and that Sonic was able to prove the old hedgehog was responsible for it all. At least we can slap him with assault on an Interpol agent on top of everything else."

"Seriously, I don't think I'm ever going to let you out of my sights again after this," Salem grumbled as he pinched his nose. "You always find some way or another to make me worry about you. And the fact that you have Feralisis Syndrome and insist on working in the field doesn't help things much."

"Hey, I think I can hold my own well enough. I mean, Interpol wouldn't have hired me if I didn't show good field skills."

Instead of answering back, the black cat simply picked up the phone resting on his desk and began dialing the numbers. Leon took this as a hint to drop the subject and returned to trying to make his recorder work again.

_Dr. Ivo Robotnik_

"Hmm, I hope I packed everything," Dr. Robotnik mumbled to himself as he closed his suitcase. His apartment had since been emptied as part of his relocation situation, and it was all as bare as if it were a newly built place.

After Sonic and his friends managed to solve the LK-9 Case, the smuggling group went into shambles without Mephiles to guide them. Before excommunicating himself from the crime syndicate, he heard that many of the smuggling officials were going underground and wait until a new leader was appointed. Fortunately for the man, he knew most of the smuggling members in Mobius and was going to report them back to Interpol.

He was soon jolted out of his thoughts from his cell phone ringing. He quickly dug it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID before answering it.

"I was expecting you to call me sometime soon," he bluntly greeted. "How are things going back at headquarters, Salem?"

"_It's pretty good considering the case-breaking details we've just been served,_" Salem sighed, clearly used to the other's way of talking and paying little attention to it. "_To be honest with you, the higher-ups have been calling a lot of meetings just to make sure all the information Sonic and his friends obtained for us is legit. I understand why they're hesitant about it since the new information was received by attorneys who had nothing to do with our smuggling case until they revived the LK-9 Case. Still, shouldn't the fact that it was obtained during an actual trial be enough to at least convince them of its validity?_"

"Hmm, I take it then that you want me to come back as fast as I can and talk some sense into them?" Dr. Robotnik asked with a hint of amusement in his tone. "You do know that there's only so much I can do even if I'm there, right?"

"_I know, but these bigwigs seem more willing to believe things when they hear it coming directly from your mouth. You pretty much have more experience than most of those guys, so they tend to bend an ear to whatever it is you have to say. With me, it's like I'm still a rookie who doesn't know what he's talking about. I still remember how they shot down my suggestion that the lighthouse was a central hub for the smuggling. I'm sure you can guess how that ended up going for them._"

"Well, five years isn't that much time to be working with Interpol. It takes time for some to warm up to you and your potential, although I will admit they tend to jump the gun a lot when making their decisions. Even my words aren't heeded every now and again. And speaking of potential, how's your brother doing? I hear he's gotten a good talking-to once Interpol got wind he was kidnapped."

"_He's right now trying to finish up his end of the report, but we're right now having some trouble with his recorder,_" the black cat explained. Leon could be heard in the background cursing about how the technicians were just a bunch of lazy idiots. "_The tech staff haven't been on top of their game lately, but there's nothing new about that. Other than that, he's pretty much the same as ever._"

"That's good to know. Anyway, I've got to get going now. I'm coming to headquarters right now so I can figure out what my next undercover mission is going to be. If you two are still there, then I'll see you later."

"_Alright. Try not to get into any trouble while you're out there. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the smugglers caught wind of you being relatively fine despite Mephiles now behind bars and soon to be tried as the ringleader._"

"Your concern is unnecessary but appreciated nonetheless," the portly man humorously replied before turning off the phone. He then put it back into his pocket before picking up his suitcase and making his way to the door for the final time.

"At least I can leave here knowing that I'm leaving the law in good hands," he thought aloud as he exited into the hallway. "He may be a rookie, but Sonic definitely has the makings to be one of the greatest defense attorneys this city's ever saw. And with Tails working beside him as his partner, I'm sure there's nothing that'll stop them from finding the truth.

"Speaking of the truth, I better send those detectives the results of our findings," he continued on as he began typing something on his phone. "I'm sure they'll be more than interested since it pertains to some of the cases they've worked on. At least they can now say those incidents are fully resolved with this."

_Silver and Knuckles_

"Boy, I never thought those idiots would stop bombarding me with questions!" Knuckles heavily sighed as he sank into his chair so hard it actually made an unusual sound. The Precinct had seen little progress actually being made due to the aftermath that saw the resolution of the LK-9 Case. Because of that, everyone was in panic mode while waiting for the results that the bombshell of a conviction would have on them. "Did they really have to go at me with so many things in an attempt to find an excuse to fire me? Seriously, these auditors are going overboard with their investigation!"

The day after the LK-9 Case was officially resolved, a few independent auditors hailing from neighboring cities quickly occupied the Precinct. They wasted no time and immediately got started with their corruption investigation. Every detective on the payroll were told to line up outside of the captain's office for an on-the-spot performance and ethics review. It was warned that the process would take the entire day, and it was already late in the afternoon by the time Knuckles's review was done. This meant that he along with everybody else was going to have a backlog of work once tomorrow came around.

"How you holding up, Knuckles?" Silver asked as he approached the echidna's desk with two cups of coffee and set one down. He was one of the first to attend his review and get out of it unscathed. "I hope the auditors didn't give you too much of a hard time."

"If a hard time doesn't constitute being questioned about the same thing over and over and being threatened with firing for lying, then they didn't," the other sarcastically replied. "In fact, I think they're having a lot of fun trying to make us detectives suffer while they try to weed out those they think corrupt or incompetent."

"Well, at least you're able to make it back to your desk with only those misgivings about this," the senior detective reassured. "I've already seen a few detectives fired and cleaning out their desks. And judging by how you're just pissed at how they do their work, I'm guessing that you're not going anywhere anytime soon."

"You better believe it, Silver. They better have said the same thing to you or I'm going to march back in and demand they reverse their decision!"

"Don't worry; I had a pretty clean record when I faced them. They literally had a hard time trying to find anything bad to say about me. The only thing they could be critical about were my minimal interactions with Mephiles. Even then, they were forced to admit that my hearing might be the shortest they'll ever have today.

"Still, I'm not happy with how they're doing on-the-spot firings simply because all the negatives add up to what they define as an unfit detective," he added with clear dissatisfaction. "I know these guys are independent auditors, but they don't have to act like employment gods and judge us through their standards alone. It's like they're doing anything they can to cleanse as much of this department they can! I hardly see how that can be fair."

"Go ahead and put this under the list of things we can blame Mephiles for putting us through," Knuckles replied before taking a long sip from his coffee. "I swear; he's probably laughing in whatever rotten cell he's being held at all the trouble he's caused. The Prosecutor's Office is also being audited, and I'm willing to bet they're being grilled just as hard if not more so. I'm sure Shadow and Vector can fend for themselves well enough, but I've no doubt their auditors are just as ruthless as ours."

"There's not much we can do about it but wait. That's the only thing I hate Sonic and Tails having done. We wouldn't be going through this if it weren't for him, but I can't hold it against them. Most of this was Mephiles's fault for having been so corrupted and potentially planting his views amongst other prosecutors and detectives."

"I don't care either way," the echidna nonchalantly brushed aside as he picked up a file and began browsing through it. "All I want to do now is catch up with the mountains of work the auditors forced me to put off. Most of these are cases that've already been solved, but I still need to get them sorted out. At least the captain can't grill me if I file in a report late, even he got himself audited and forced to put off everything."

"Mind if I stuck around to help?" Silver suggested while pulling up a spare chair nearby. "I managed to get most of my work done, so I'm free right now."

"If you don't mind filing burglary reports and sifting through evidence for a potentially prosecutable case, then go ahead. I want to get as much of this done as fast as I can. Don't forget that we got somewhere to go later. And before I forget, thanks for sticking around to help get my mind off of all this."

With only a nod of his head, the senior detective picked up a file and began browsing through it. Not even a minute into figuring out what it was, he felt his phone ring and looked to see what was going on.

"…Hey, Dr. Robotnik just sent me some files," he said as he opened said documents and browsed through them. "It looks like they have something to do with some cases. I wonder why he'd send me this."

"Probably because he's got some info from Interpol he can share with you," Knuckles replied offhandedly without looking up from his file. "I still can't believe that he's actually an Interpol agent. He definitely did a good job hiding it from everybody with his cover as a law agency. It sucks now that he'll have to leave Mobius; he was one of the best defense attorneys apart from Sonic."

"Wait a minute; this is information on all the cases that Sonic worked on prior to going against Mephiles!" the senior detective exclaimed. "According to this, all the suspects that Sonic successfully proved were responsible for murder were also members of the smuggling ring. The reason for them committing their crimes was because it was under the boss's orders. Put that together with the fact that all the kidnap victims from five years ago were being framed for it and he was trying to kill two birds with one stone."

"So we finally got proper motive for all those cases?" the echidna asked before shuffling through the mountain of files. "I think I got those files somewhere here. Better put it in so we can officially call them fully solved. Still, it doesn't help with trying to get all this done before the day's over."

Instead of answering back, Silver continued to read the files that Dr. Robotnik had sent him. Noticing that he was not going to be getting further help anytime soon, the other detective irritably groaned while continuing to search for the specific files.

_Shadow and Vector_

"The LK-9 Case has certainly caused everybody a lot of trouble," Shadow sighed as he sat at his desk with a cup of coffee in his hands. He had just finished taking care of the work that had piled during his time with the auditors and was relaxing from the day's hectic events. "The entire office is being turned upside-down by the auditors in search of corruption and shaky job performances. Everyone's fallen behind in their work because of the extensive amount of time we have to spend defending ourselves from them. And it doesn't help that they have us drop everything and wait in line for our review like were in elementary school."

"Knuckles just told me the Precinct is going through the same thing," Vector stated with the same sigh after flipping through the unread messages in his phone. His headset was resting on his neck with the music blaring out of them as he sat on a sofa enjoying his cup of coffee. "Apparently, they're not just looking for signs of corruption there. They're also putting each detective's performance review under scrutiny and seeing if they're worthy enough to continue working. I'm sure Knuckles and Silver are going to get out of it fine, but I can't imagine how the others are going to take it. It's a shame since there are some perfectly fine detectives about to be laid off just like that."

"I don't see how that's any different from what we're going through right now," the ebon hedgehog said after taking a sip from his cup. "We've already seen a couple of prosecutors leave thanks to the auditors. However, I think its good their gone. I've already had my suspicions that some of them were in league with Mephiles even before this. At least now I don't have to worry about some people trying to fix their cases."

"And it's not like this auditing thing was all bad," the crocodile added. "It also managed to weed out those who are completely incompetent at their job. Do you remember that old guy Payne or something? I can't tell you how many times he's asked me to help straighten up his files so he won't be going to court disorganized. At least I'm happy for this audit finally getting him out of here and keep him from bugging us with his idiotic antics."

With only an amused chuckle as a response, Shadow put down his coffee and picked up a file that was resting on his desk. On it were the words "LK-9 Case" typed on it.

"For the past few years since I became a prosecutor, I've been doing everything I could to solve this," he said. "I know I've told you this before, but Maria was both my tutor and good friend during high school. It's because of her that I actually became interested in law. When I heard she was killed trying to save me and the others, I wasn't going to just sit back and let the police try to solve it. I guess you could say this was my way of trying to get revenge for the one who killed her.

"And then there was Sonic's uncle also getting killed trying to save us. I wouldn't be surprised if he became a defense attorney because of that. It's good that we both have closure now, but I still can't believe the results of our findings. I mean, I personally feel like an idiot for having stared at my target all these years without knowing it!"

"Hey, you can't go beating yourself up for that," Vector reassured the other. "Mephiles literally had the entire office and Precinct in his hands. There wasn't a single person in either department who thought he was a murderer. Even the questions that lingered about his unusual courtroom tactics were unfounded and disappeared after a while. Being the cunning man that he was, I'm amazed that we were able to name him as a suspect much less convict him. As a fellow prosecutor, I never dreamed I would've gone against him in any shape or form. I can see why defense attorneys dreaded going against him now."

For a couple of minutes, both prosecutors merely sat in silence as they mulled over all that has happened. Neither of them liked being played for fools, and here was a man who was able to manipulate everyone in the Mobius law enforcement into believing he was a powerful and unstoppable force. Yet despite all odds, they were able to work together alongside their friends to unmask the man and reveal him to be the murderous monster he was. And now there were questions of his involvement with the local smuggling ring, question that were currently being looked into by Interpol and would no doubt be solved. After all, most of the new info they received was courtesy of the trial that Sonic and Vector had conducted.

"But yeah, there's nothing more we can do about it now," the crocodile suddenly said as he got up and stretched his arms. "We've done all we could on our end of the law. Let's leave the rest up to the guys at Interpol. I'm sure Salem and Leon are working their butts off to keep our efforts from going to waste. With guys like them working the smuggling case, I'm sure they'll be able to pin Mephiles as the ringleader in no time. They agreed to keep me posted on it, so I'll tell you about it once I figure it out."

"I'm holding you to it, Vector," Shadow replied before getting up himself and checking the time on the wall clock. "Well, it's almost six-thirty. I believe we need to be somewhere by seven if I'm not mistaken."

"Oh yeah, I actually forgot about that! We better get going then if we're going to want to beat traffic. That and I don't want to be dragged into another review with the auditors. Once is enough torture for me."

As the two continued with their idle conversation, they gathered their stuff and walked out of Shadow's office. The hallway was pretty bare of people, so they had no trouble going to the elevators and riding it to the ground floor where they would finally be able to escape the air of oppression created by the presence of the independent auditors.

_Sonic and Tails_

"Geez, I still can't believe that I own this place now," Sonic said as he sat at his desk. Ever since he was given ownership of the law firm, he and Tails had taken steps to give the place some of their personal touches. They rearranged some of the furniture and brought in some of their pictures to give the place a more welcoming feel. They even changed Dr. Robotinik's old office into a room dedicated to storing away old case files. Both were in consensus that changing the room into anything else would be a disservice to the man who helped them land a more steady life.

"You better start believing it, Sonic," the fox replied as he finished hanging a picture that he and their friends took during their celebratory dinner party a few days ago. The whole thing depicted such a festive mood; it was near impossible to tell it was in celebration of solving a cold case. "This is going to be your life until the moment you decide to retire."

"It's going to be _our_ life," the hedgehog corrected. "Don't forget that Dr. Robotnik put your name on the papers as well. As of now, you're officially my partner-in-crime in running this place. And that's not even mentioning the license he was able to net you which allows you to be a detective for this firm."

"I still can't believe that he was able to give me this," the other murmured as he reached into his gloves and pulled out a badge that was like Sonic's. Instead of certifying him as an attorney though, it showed that he was a certified detective. "He said that I'll still need to take a course to make the whole thing official, but he managed to pull some strings so I can at least work beside you with investigations."

"I still can't believe that he's been a member of Interpol this entire time. I guess it kind of makes sense seeing how he was more out of the office than he was in. But to think that he was at such a high level. I mean, he had to be pretty high up to get it so that you can take an investigative course that Interpol agents take."

"Well, I can't say I'm complaining," Tails said with a shrug while making his way into the kitchen. There was a bit of cluttering going on as though he were moving some cookware around. "I won't lie when I say that wasn't at least a bit curious about how they go about with their field investigations. From what Salem and Leon taught me about the logic chess technique of interrogation, what they learn must be on a scope that's different from what your everyday detective learns."

"Heh, I'd never dream you'd get a career opportunity at the age you're at now," Sonic chuckled. "It already took me quite a bit of effort to convince the court that you'll be good in my custody. Now you're actually going to become my partner-in-crime once you pass the Interpol certified investigative course. Still, it's going to be a bit quiet around here with you gone."

"But isn't this why you and the others planned this party?" the fox questioned as he brought out a tray filled with bowls of differing party foods from pretzels to popcorn.

With merely a shrug of his shoulders, Sonic got up and went to help with the party set-up. He went into the kitchen to get the drinks while Tails was busy setting up the coffee table. It was going to be a rather tame party, more like a going-away kind of thing than anything else. And it was also going to serve as an extension to the congratulatory party from a few days ago, so they were all pretty excited about it.

After a few more minutes of setting up, the two heard a knock at the door. The cobalt hedgehog motioned that he was going to get it while the other made the finishing touches.

"Glad you guys could make it," he greeted as Knuckles and Silver walked in. "Just make yourselves at home in our new office and we'll serve you shortly."

"Look who's gone sounding all high and mighty now that he's his own boss," Knuckles teased as he hung his coat on a nearby rack. "You might want to leave the door open; I saw Vector and Shadow coming in behind us."

"And I'd say we caught up pretty quickly," Vector's familiar voice answered as both prosecutors appeared and entered the office. "So this is where our friendly neighborhood rookie defense attorney calls his office, huh? Boy, I can't believe how far you've gone from when I first faced off against you in court."

"Thanks for the compliment," the defense attorney thanked with a roll of his eyes.

"Just make sure you don't let it get to your head," Shadow scoffed in a lighthearted fashion. "The last thing we need is a lawyer who's gotten drunk from his newfound power and throws the entire legal system up in limbo."

"I think it's a bit late for that," Silver joked as he took a seat on the sofa. "He's already got the Precinct and Prosecutor's Office subjected to an audit. It was all Knuckles and I could do to keep the dogs away."

"That was the same for me and Shadow," the crocodile responded as he put on his headphones. However, these ones seemed more casual as they lacked the badge that normally stuck out on the muffs.

"Hey, I already said I was sorry for putting you through that," Sonic murmured irritably. "If you really want to blame someone, then blame Mephiles for the trouble he caused."

"Hey, let's just forget about all that crap and enjoy the party," the echidna announced as he picked up a cup filled with soda that had been set up by Tails. "I'm happy that we're out of that misery, and I want to go pretending it never happened."

"Well, then how about we start off with a toast?" the senior detective suggested as he picked up his own cup followed by everybody else. "Not only is this the birth of a new business; it's also a start to Tails's very first job training."

"Uh, I don't think we need to do that," said fox replied with a light blush.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," the cobalt hedgehog agreed as he raised his cup to the air. "This is to Tails's big break at becoming both an investigator and my equal partner in our new business, 'The M&M Legal Agency'!"

"I still can't believe you decided to base the first half of the name off of a popular brand of candy," the ebon hedgehog groaned before taking a sip of his drink.

"I already told you, the M's are the initials to our legal first names! I didn't want there to be a sense of superiority, so I figured the M's would work better."

"I guess it works," Knuckles replied with a shrug. "I mean, calling it 'Maurice and Miles's Legal Agency' or the other way around would be kind of a mouthful. Still, just hearing the first part of it makes me feel like having some candy now."

"I still can't believe your first name is Maurice!" Vector added with an amused snort.

"Hey, it was the name my mother gave me. You got something against it, then go take it up with her! Why'd you think I prefer to be called Sonic? And why aren't you bugging Tails about his first name?"

"Because yours kind of sounds more serious when you're actually more of a goofball," the croc continued with his lighthearted teasing. Everyone else joined in with the laughing in agreement to what he said.

Instead of answering back, Sonic merely rolled his eyes as he drank from his cup in completion of the toast turned conversational joke. Of course, he was not sore about what they were discussing. Even he admitted that it sounded more like a candy brand. Still, he wanted things to sound as equal as possible between him and Tails. After all, they were now partners in this new chapter of their life. Things could only go up from here.

They now had friends and allies both in the Precinct and the Prosecutor's Office should they ever need the help. They had connections with an independent detective agency that so happened to be owned by Vector himself. And Tails was about to go on an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn how Interpol agents perform their investigations thanks in no small part to Dr. Robotnik's influence with the group. And to think that it all started the moment when he first started working as a defense attorney.

* * *

><p>Well, that's it for this epilogue and this entire story. I hope you liked it all! And yes, I decided to try my hand at one last joke involving M&amp;Ms. I wanted the new law firm to sound short but good, and putting "Sonic and Tails's Legal Agency" just didn't look right. Then I decided to use their actual first names before coming up with the idea to use their initials. That's how this little funny bit was born!<p>

But yeah, I think I will be starting to work on a sequel now. I mean, the ending I've written has left the possibility open. That and I'm quite curious with what else I can come up with now that Tails is officially Sonic's partner and about to get some actual detective training courtesy of Dr. Robotnik. Let's see what he'll learn from Interpol, huh?

And sorry one last time for those of you who were hoping that Dr. Robotnik would've played more of a role in this story. I honestly meant for him to be more of a front-line player for the LK-9 Case, but the storyline kept going in a way that it would've been impossible. I was barely able to squeeze in him covertly giving Sonic and Tails the picture along with a note that he was with Interpol. Still, I'm sure some of you were thinking that he was actually a member of the smuggling ring what with how I had his movements kind of suspicious and whatnot.

But yeah, that's it for me on this story. This is my last chapter and author's note, so I hope you enjoyed it all. I'll see you all on the next story I write! Hopefully, it'll be a sequel to this. You never know, right? Later!


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